Behind the Scenes: With Tom Vickstrom of The Hermitage Hotel by Madeleine Bradford for NFocus

When Tom Vickstrom, The Hermitage Hotel’s historian and financial adviser, tells the story of suffragist leader Carrie Chapman Catt’s stay in room 310, he often tears up. Legend has it that Catt opened her room’s Tennessee State Capitol-facing window to shouts and cries of joy once women officially gained the right to vote, a story Tom has proudly recited on historic hotel tours since 2009. 

Pro- and anti-suffragists famously set up headquarters in The Hermitage Hotel, leading up to Tennessee’s ratification of the 19th Amendment. Those in favor wore yellow roses, while those against wore red ones — and to this day, yellow is one of the hotel’s key branding and storytelling devices. 

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