Blue Ridge Sanatorium was a

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...

for the treatment of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

located outside of

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Cha ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, United States. The site was originally known as Moore's Brook and was operated as a private mental institution. One of its central buildings, Lyman Mansion, dates to 1875. Dr. D. M. Trice served as the director of Moore's Brook and used the grounds as a farm to breed prizewinning

Berkshire pig The Berkshire is an English breed of pig. It originated in the county of Berkshire, for which it is named. It is normally black, with some white on the snout, on the lower legs, and on the tip of the tail. It is a rare breed in the United Kin ...

s. As of 1908, August Mencken, younger brother of

H. L. Mencken Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...

, was doing civil engineering work at the institution.

Background

The government of Virginia acquired the site in 1914. When it officially opened in 1920, Blue Ridge Sanatorium had room for 382 patients. Construction continued at the site for some years; in 1927, the George W. Wright Pavilion was completed, a collaborative effort between architects Charles M. Robinson and

Marcellus E. Wright Sr. Marcellus Eugene Wright Sr. (April 8, 1881 – December 7, 1962) was an American architect. He was active in Richmond, Virginia and the surrounding region during the first half of the 20th century. In addition to his work on hotels, Wright was a ...

The Wright Pavilion was sponsored by the

Grand Lodge of Virginia The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of Virginia, commonly known as "Grand Lodge of Virginia", claims to be the oldest independent masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins ...

, on the condition that members of the Lodge were to receive preferential admission to the facility. Virginian philanthropist

Paul Goodloe McIntire Paul Goodloe McIntire (1860–1952) was an American stockbroker, investor, and philanthropist from Virginia. He served on the Chicago and New York Stock Exchanges. He was a generous donor to the University of Virginia and its home, the city of ...

contributed to the building of the sanatorium's chapel. Blue Ridge Sanatorium, along with other state-run medical institutions, was subject to

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

Catawba Sanatorium Catawba may refer to: *Catawba people, a Native American tribe in the Carolinas *Catawba language, a language in the Catawban languages family *Catawban languages Botany *Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other N ...

(1908) and

Piedmont Sanatorium Piedmont Sanatorium was a rest home for tubercular African Americans in Burkeville, Virginia from 1917 to 1965. It was the first facility of its kind ever to be established in the United States. The Sanatorium later became the site of Piedmont G ...

(1918) had previously been established in Virginia for the treatment of tuberculosis. Black tuberculosis patients in the Charlottesville area were required to travel to Piedmont Sanatorium, as Blue Ridge Sanatorium operated from the beginning under a whites-only admissions policy. While the 1920s saw Blue Ridge Sanatorium establish a

preventorium A preventorium was an institution or building for patients infected with tuberculosis who did not yet have an active form of the disease. Popular in the early 20th century, preventoria were designed to isolate these patients from uninfected indivi ...

for pretubercular white children, "there were no sanatorium beds dedicated for African American children, even those with active disease, in or around Charlottesville until 1940," when Piedmont Sanatorium began to admit children. The development of antibiotics against tuberculosis in 1946 was the beginning of the end for many American sanatoriums, as most began to see patient numbers dwindling. No new patients were admitted to Blue Ridge Sanatorium after 1962, and in 1978 the site was turned over to the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

, which renamed the facility Blue Ridge Hospital. While the Commonwealth of Virginia was expected to provide $10 million in funding, only $3 million was eventually provided, resulting in several buildings, including the Lyman Mansion, not being renovated.Volkan
p. 146
Vamik Volkan served as medical director of Blue Ridge Hospital from 1978 to 1996, and was responsible for founding the Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction there in 1988. Blue Ridge Hospital closed its doors in 1996. In 2001, the property was transferred to the UVA Foundation. Many of the surviving buildings were reportedly deteriorating as of 2002, and a tentative proposal from

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary plantation of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 26. Located just outside Charlottesville, V ...

to acquire the site and demolish many buildings drew strenuous protests from the university community and local historians. Eventually, the UVA Foundation acted to preserve the property using "mothballing" standards developed by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

and posted a resident overseer to deter trespassing. Eleven surviving buildings were stabilized by the Foundation, including a barn, various silos, the Wright Pavilion, the Chapel, Lyman Mansion, and the Bradbury houses. The site of the former Blue Ridge Sanatorium is not accessible to the public. Documents from the Blue Ridge Sanatorium are preserved at the Claude Moore Library of the University of Virginia.

Notes

References

External links

Blue Ridge Tuberculosis Sanatorium
" website hosted by University of Virginia School of Architecture {{authority control 1920 establishments in Virginia 1978 establishments in Virginia Buildings and structures in Albemarle County, Virginia Tuberculosis sanatoria in the United States