Date:  1927

Image Number:  B418cdB28

Comments:  'The Palace' on Scottsville's Valley Street was the home of William 'Billy' S. Beal whose photo is shown at right.  His low-slung home, located at the right of Victory Theater, has been razed and now serves as a parking area by the Town of Scottsville offices.  But during its Scottsville days, it is remembered fondly for its broad front porch where old Civil War veterans gathered to discuss their war experiences and watch town life bustle about them.  Mayor Raymon Thacker, who grew up in Scottsville, tells of wasting no time getting to the Palace when his chores were done:

"But I had too much activity going on up town---keeping track of what was going on, who was visiting, and all of those kinds of things.  I always liked to be around older people because I felt I was getting something back from them.  I used to go up to Uncle Billy Beal's place by the Victory Theater Building.  It was an old big building there, and Uncle Billy lived in there alone.  They called it the Palace.  It had a long front porch on it, and he had a bunch of chairs there.  That was where all the Civil War veterans gathered.  I remember Mr. Moon, Mr. Ramsey, Mr. Clemmons, and Mr. Zack Jones would all come down and sit on the porch and talk.  And I was just loved to sit on the porch and listen to those men talk about what happened during the war.  They were all actively in the war.  Mr. Zack Jones was one of Mosby's Rangers.  Mosby was one of those famous officers that was able to slip behind the lines and gain information for Jackson and Lee.  They called him the Gray Ghost because he could get in and out so easily.  And Mr. Jones used to tell some of the stories about how they slipped in up at Manassas and different places--- slipped in behind the lines and told the officers on duty there that they were Federal officers--- and get by with it and come back with valuable information especially to Jackson who was with the Army of Northern Virginia at that time, pushing towards Washington.  So I got a lot of information from those men and learned to like them, to respect them, to think a lot of them, and to get a little firmer foundation on what life was."

The top photo is part of the A. Raymon Thacker collection.  Raymon has lived in Scottsville since 1911.  The photo at right is from the Scottsville Masonic Lodge #45 collection.