Kingsport 1844: Turner Hall

20) Turner Hall
607 Turner Street, Downtown. Est. 1792

A) City Hall
Built shortly after the Revolution, this three-story Federal-style building houses Kingsport’s administrative offices, the town records office, and a private legal library. Municipal government meetings are held in the first-floor Blaine Room, an expansive chamber famous for its stunning portrait of Argus Blaine, painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1797. The portrait is accompanied by several additional masterpieces, including John Trumbull’s The Shelling of Kingsport Harbor by the British, September 11, 1778, William Hodges’ A View of Kingsport Harbour Before a Storm, Amasa Hewins’ Portrait of Saladin Tuttle, and Sarah Goodridge’s miniatures of Christopher and Virginia Pickering. An imposing bust of Amos Tuttle occupies the mantlepiece above the fireplace, situated between a model of the Hannah and an ivory pagoda donated by Arthur Illsley. Turner Hall is open from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday, but visitors must make an appointment to view the Blaine Room.

B) Mayor’s Office
The offices of Mayor Sherwood Jefferson Cabot are on the second floor, and are closed to the public except by appointment. A staunch Democrat, Mayor Cabot comes from a wealthy family of Kingsport merchants, and is a vocal advocate for the whaling trade. Although the Kingsport Chronicle has cast some aspersions his way—corruption, nepotism, minor scandals involving a dancing girl—Cabot is generally well-liked, a “charmer” with a quick smile and populist inclinations. Mayor Cabot is not a member of the Kingsport Cult, nor does he believe in witchcraft or any such “nonsense.” He’s also a regular at the Starry Busk.

C) Kingsport Municipal Records Office
Located on the first floor, the Kingsport Municipal Records Office holds documents pertaining to property, taxes, births, weddings, and deaths. It does not hold maritime records, which are available at the Custom House (Encounter 10). The clerk in charge of this disorganized mess is Alan Zelenetz, a harried man in his sixties with a fondness for adventure stories. Unassociated with the Kingsport Cult, Zelenetz is happy to help anyone who knocks on the door—“I’m not like that other Alan!” Three hours digging through town records and a Library Use roll allows a player character to construct a family tree of the entwined Tuttle and Macy clans, earning the Handout: Macy-Tuttle Family Tree. 

D) Polk Rally
Turner Hall has no Programmed Events, but if the player characters visit during business hours, they may stumble upon a political rally for James K. Polk. Organized by the Association of Kingsport Democrats and financed by Jonah Pickering and the Hollow Gazetteer, the rally consists of a small marching band, a few dozen people waving banners, and a pair of glad-handing campaigners passing out “VOTE FOR POLK!” handbills. Anti-British sentiment runs high, and the campaign slogan “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!” is repeated like a chant. Security is provided by a pair of firemen from the Liberty Bell Hose Company, who occasionally lead the crowd in rallying cries such as “Oregon for America!” or “Texas Belongs to Us!” (Apparently Polk’s official slogan of “Reannexation of Texas and Reoccupation of Oregon” is a bit of a mouthful.) Aside from patriotic tunes like “Yankee Doodle,” the band occasionally strikes up Polk’s campaign song, “Jimmy Polk of Tennessee,” its curiously lukewarm lyrics warbled off-key by the glad-handers. While the rally has little bearing on the scenario, it provides a nice bit of color, and illustrates the political fervor that will soon propel the United States into war. (If the Keeper wishes, the Liberty Bells may be drawn from the trio that appears in Encounter 37.)

White Leviathan > Chapter 1—Kingsport 1844
[Back to Encounter 19, Brimblecombe House | White Leviathan TOC | Forward to Encounter 21, Hotel Poseidon]

Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 25 November 2023
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
White Leviathan PDF: [TBD]