A Valentine’s Note from the Hotel Perkins

“I wish very much you would send to me the balance on your note.”

Well, hello there, neighbors! Come on in and pull up a chair. Today, I’ve got something special to show you from our local history chest. It’s a little slip of paper dated February 14th, 1894—Valentine’s Day—but it wasn’t exactly a love letter. It was written on the fine stationery of the old Hotel Perkins over in Hinton, West Virginia, back when the A.B. Camper company ran the place and promised a bus to and from every train.

The paper itself has held up remarkably well over these last 130 years. You can still see the sharp, dark ink from a nib pen and the crisp lines where it was folded up tight to fit into an envelope. It’s got that lovely, official letterhead that makes you think of bustling lobbies and the smell of coal smoke from the nearby tracks. It’s a real physical piece of Hinton’s heyday that you can almost feel between your fingers.

In the letter, Mr. J.W. Davis is writing a quick, polite note to Mr. Laban Gwinn. Now, Laban was a well-known name around these parts, and it seems he owed a little something on a financial note. Mr. Davis wasn’t being pushy or mean about it; he just reached out like one neighbor to another, even signing off as “Your friend.” It’s a gentle reminder that back then, business was personal and built on the strength of a man’s word and a handwritten request.

Looking at this today reminds us that history isn’t just about big battles or famous speeches. Most of it is made up of these small, quiet moments—settling debts, staying at a local hotel, and keeping up with friends. It’s a connection to a time when life moved a bit slower, even if the “bus” was just a horse-drawn carriage meeting the steam engine at the station. It makes you wonder what small notes of ours might tell a story a century from now.

Original Transcription

HOTEL PERKINS,
A. B. CAMPER & CO., Propr’s.
Bus To and From Trains.

HINTON, W. VA., Feby 14 1894

Mr. Laban Gwinn:
Dear Sir:
I wish very
much you would send to me
the balance on your note.
And oblige Your friend,
J.W. Davis.