Canterbury House: A History:

Tech Students in Town for Over 100 Years

In spring 1997, Jack Davis surprised the community of Christ Episcopal Church. The Virginia Tech architect declared the Canterbury House, located at 204 East Roanoke Street, structurally sound for renovations. Previous owners had added to it without thought to the overall strength of the structure. Because of this, many believed that the house was not worth renovating. The vestry of Christ Episcopal Church spent $100,000 to rejuvenate the house. During renovations many questions arose about the history of the house. No one knew more than the name of the owner who had sold the church the house.

On November 14, 1904, William M. Lybrook bought a parcel of land from C.D. Gitt and his wife Nattie for $350. This was Lot 35 on the old town map. The deed stated that C.D. Gitt’s mother, Harriet would be able to live there until she died, and that C.D. Gitt would pay the taxes on the land until then. If he failed to pay the taxes or Mrs. Gitt died then Lybrook would take possession of the land. This meant that there was already a house there. This house is what became the Canterbury house in second half of the twentieth century.

William Lybrook came from a large family. According to the 1880 census, his father was a retired merchant. He was one of eight children. In the 1880 census, he was the only child who had attended school in the past year. In the early nineteenth century, Lybrook owned the block where the church is currently located. He owned Lybrook’s Row, "A single-storied, many roomed, frame building, designed to house some of the overflow [of cadets from Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College]." Many students, faculty and townspeople called it "Hell’s Row" or "Buzzards’ Roost" and it became an unofficial barracks for the cadets.

Along with the lodgings he provided, Lybrook also owned a store. Donna Dunnay called it a general store in her book, Blacksburg: Understanding a Virginia Town: Town Architecture, but Lybrook himself advertised it as a hardware store in the 1897 Bugle. The store was called Luster and Lybrook. The advertisement stated that they "…especially solicit the patronage of the Students and Faculty." Luster owned a hotel not too far from Lybrook’s Row where many of Lybrook’s boarders took their meals.

Lybrook also bought the Andy Camper house, situated on Lot 50 of the old town map. He bought this land at public auction. William Colhoun, an agent of Montgomery County Courts, was ordered to sell the land to resolve a suit between the children of Andy and Katherine Camper. L.E. Wilson, one of Camper’s daughters, had been receiving the revenues from the rent of the house since her father’s death. Her brothers and sisters brought suit against her for their fair share of the profits.

Camper et al. versus Wilson et al. was tried in the chancery court of Montgomery County in the October 1907 session. John Camper, Jennie Tinsley and Mary Maddox were suing their sister. L.E. Wilson owned two-fifths interest in the property because she had bought one-fifth from her sister Nattie Smith. Each of the other children owned one-fifth interest. In the end the land was sold at public auction and the proceeds split between the children, because the land was not capable of being partitioned. William Lybrook bought this land for $506 in July of 1908.

The last land acquisition that William Lybrook made took place in July of 1921. By this time he was almost 60 years old. He and his brother John partitioned and traded land. The land they traded was described as Lots 1-3 on a map made by W.F. Wall in October of 1917. I was unable to find this map, and subsequently unable to find the exact location of these plots. In this deal, William received Lots 1 and 3, while his brother received Lot 2.

William Lybrook died on 26 November 1925. According to his will, his wife received all of his property. He also named his wife executrix of his will. His brother Samuel bought his store at his death for $7287.27. The family apparently went bankrupt and was forced to sell their land to get out of debt. The lot where the Canterbury House is currently located was sold to the Bank of Christiansburg and the National Bank of Blacksburg on 9 January 1937 by his heirs. On 1 February 1939, Katharine McGhee, a grand-niece of Jefferson Davis bought the land.

Mrs. McGhee came to Blacksburg from Roanoke following an unpleasant separation from her husband. "He was dead far as she was concerned," said Mary Effinger, an employee of McGhee for seventeen years. In fact, McGhee told Effinger that her husband was dead. It was not until his obituary showed up in the paper that she found out the truth. After making this clean break with her former life in Roanoke, McGhee began to build her life in Blacksburg.

McGhee was an extremely kind woman. She gave rooms in her home to students at Virginia Tech. If someone came to her house for lodging, but she had no room, she would tell them to return in a week. In this time she would carve rooms out of her basement. She always had boys staying with her, except when the school held dances. At these times, McGhee would give up her bedroom and move to the porch so that she could offer lodgings to young ladies. Her students called her "Mama Gee." While she was very kind toward them, they had strict rules imposed on them. "If they didn’t go by her law, Gee [Katharine McGhee] would tell them, and if they did it again, they was out." Effinger remembered her boss very fondly, but said that she did have a temper. "Gee had a heart as big as the whole world."

Every year McGhee held a large Christmas party in her home. It ran from sundown to sunup. According to Sally Mackie, who knew her personally, if McGhee invited you to the party once, she always invited you back. About a week after this party, McGhee would hold a big spaghetti dinner for her boarders. This was the only meal she ever served to the boys. By the time of her death on 31 July 1968, most of the town of Blacksburg turned out for the party.

On 15 August 1964, McGhee sold part of her land to Christ Episcopal Church. This is currently the parking lot for the church, but was originally her backyard. Shortly before her death she sold the house she lived in to Christ Episcopal Church for $35000. The church took possession of the property upon her death on 31 July 1968. Easter Seals took over half of the church as their headquarters, while Appalachian People’s Service Organization (APSO) took the other half. Easter Seals eventually moved out and APSO took control of the whole house.

B. Lloyd, a rector of Christ Episcopal Church, headed the project. Sally Mackie, a parishioner, assisted him. When Lloyd moved away from the area, the headquarters of APSO moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. The house then became home to members of the Canterbury Fellowship. It was an affordable alternative to living on campus. The back room was half used for a Canterbury Meeting room, and half used for a clothing bank.

In spring and summer 1997 the parishioners of Christ Episcopal Church combined with some Canterbury members to completely overhaul the house. Vinyl siding replaced the rotting wood of the exterior. The workers added three new decks. One was built in the back, where the Canterbury room used to be. A "dining deck" was added off the kitchen and one was installed in front of the house with a handicap access ramp. A large back deck replaced the old Canterbury Meeting Room, while a new meeting room replaced the old clothing bank. Space for meeting almost doubled. Two new bathrooms were added, and the kitchen was completely redone.

Along with structural changes, the whole house, except for the living room, kitchen and bathrooms was carpeted. All new appliances and furniture were placed in the kitchen, living room and Canterbury Meeting Room. This included a washer and dryer and a dishwasher, all of which the house had never had. In the living room, the existing hardwood floor was uncovered and polished. The people who were in the house after Katrina McGhee had painted the floor red. The only part of the house left untouched was the basement. The workers cleaned it out, but did not change it structurally.

The basement is the window to the rich past of this house. In every corner of the unfinished room there are glimpses of history. In the corner where the new Canterbury Meeting Room is located, one can see the uneven ceilings that were carved out for new rooms. There is even a set of windows that used to be the outside of the house, but now allow you to peer through and see the contents of this old corner. There is a box labeled "Ham" on the floor. Apparently ham biscuits were Katharine McGhee’s specialty.

The house has come full circle. One of its first owners, William Lybrook, provided housing for cadets at the brand new VAMC. Katharine McGhee then used it to house students during the 1940s and 1950s. It was used for awhile to house charity organizations, but is now back to its original function, housing students. Four lucky Canterbury members get to live in this beautiful, historical house every year.