Riverview Hotel

The hotel was Built in 1916 and has been owned and operated by the Brandon Family from the 1920-2019. Sallie Brandon purchased the Hotel with the help of her two sisters, Miss Semora and Miss Ethel, establishing a reputation as hospitable hostesses, transforming guests into friends. Southern style cooking drew many St. Marys families away from their own dining room tables, and visitors found a home away from home. 

The sisters had purchased the Goodbread House to accommodate overflow from the Riverview and sold it when they bought the Riverview. Sallie was the primary operator. Semora was a teller in the bank on the corner (now Vista Outdoor advertising, Satilla Business Services and John Myers law office.) Ethel owned and operated an antique shop in the hotel building. They lived in and operated the hotel from 1931 until their retirement in the late 1950’s, when Ben (George’s son, their nephew) and Martha Brandon took over the operation. They ran the Riverview until it was closed for business in 1958-59. Rate ranges from $2 (no private bath) to $3 (connecting or private bath).

The hotel is operated in the same warmth and tradition today as in yesteryear.   The sisters were true entrepreneurs and pioneer women of their day. In addition to running the hotel, they had a restaurant, a pharmacy and beauty parlor. They also started the first telephone company in St. Marys. The hotel has 18 rooms.  Such notable guest as Marjorie Keenan Rawlins, Admiral Chester Nimitz, Roy Crane,  the Cartoonist, that drew “Wash Tubbs & Easy” in the 1930’s and Willard Scott, the NBC Weather Man, have stayed at the hotel. The hotel has 18 rooms, each named for someone or something.   The sisters had come to St. Marys with their brother George Washington Brandon from Durham, North Carolina. George had several sawmills in South Georgia (and was appointed first mayor of Woodbine Georgia in 1929.) He exported hardwoods and had provided some of the material for the building of the Riverview.