See the boom-era hotel that became Main Hall at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista

     As you travel east on Route 60 toward the mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway, you pass through the town of Buena Vista. Southern Virginia University, formerly Southern Seminary, is located on a hill overlooking this tiny but quaint town. Still known to the locals as “Sem,” the college educated young women for over 128 years. The school is now a four-year coeducational college.
     Main Hall, built in 1892 and considered the heart of the campus, was built as a resort hotel when Buena Vista was at the center of western Virginia’s land boom. Designed in the Romanesque style, the hotel was described at the time as “one of the most beautiful structures of modern times...with a magnificent view of mountains and valleys from the broad verandas.” Now on the National Register of Historic Places and a Virginia Historical Landmark, the building houses college administrative offices and dorm rooms. www.svu.edu.