Sanborn 1905 Fire Insurance Map

Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, Sanborn Maps Collection

 

     The town of Lewisburg was first laid out in 1782 and consisted of 64 one-half acre lots arranged in a grid of 4 blocks E-W by 4 blocks N-S. These blocks, each with four lots, were separated by streets (Court, Jefferson and Lafayette running N-S and Randolph, Washington, and German (now Foster) running E-W), but there were no streets at the boundaries of the town. On the northeast edge of town, an alley ran east from Lafayette St., past lots 13 and 14, and up the hill to Lee St. The 1905 Sanborn fire insurance map shows the alley giving access to landlocked Lot 14 and the lots to the north of the alley along Lee St. towards Chestnut St. The alley was part of the town road system until 1939 when it was abandoned and the land reverted to the abutting lots.

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Several 19th century deeds refer to the street or alley in describing lot lines:

1833, deed 12-600 John Simpkins buys a lot “. . . leaving a 10' alley . . “

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1872 deed 27-143 James Withrow sells H.W. Donnally part of the Simpkins tannery lot “. . . in the line of the street running past the stable of Thomas Pare . . . ”

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1874 deed 28-301 James Withrow sells Patrick Beirne a lot adjacent to his spring “. . . on the street leading from Donnally's Glove Factory towards Thomas Pare's residence . . .”

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1910 deed 80-566 The Worsham Stable Lot is sold “. . . lying just across the alley from the Old Mill and Creamery site, and locally known as the Worsham stable lot. . . “

 

     The only remaining evidence of that alley is the driveway from Lee St. going down the hill along the north side of the Thomas Pare House (Walking Tour #25). It provides access to the apartment building below the Pare House.

 

     Deeds are identified by (book no. – page no.) and are on file in the County Clerk's office at the Greenbrier County Courthouse.

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