Wedding DJ at Women’s Club of Thomasville in Thomasville, NC

The Space

A group of twenty-five civic-minded women, led by Mrs. F. E. Lambeth, started the Civic Improvement League in Thomasville in 1909, and three years later formalized as the Thomasville Woman’s Club under first president Mrs. Charles Finch. Members pledged $10 each to help fund a permanent home, and the building, known locally as the Grand Old Dame, officially opened on March 25, 1937 with a grand gala.

In 2020, Steve Teglas purchased the building and began operating it as a wedding and event venue, while the Woman’s Club itself continues to meet there, so a couple booking the space is stepping into a building that is still doing exactly what it was built to do: hosting the community. The venue includes the Ballroom and the Finch Tea Room, both available for events.

Capacity & Layout

Seated capacity is not published for this venue, which is common for a historic clubhouse repurposed for events rather than built to a modern banquet spec. What is clear is that the property offers two distinct rooms, the Ballroom and the Finch Tea Room, giving a couple the option of a larger reception in one and a smaller gathering, like a rehearsal dinner or bridal luncheon, in the other.

The building’s total construction cost in 1937, $8,634 in materials, $3,641.79 in labor and $583 in lighting, was paid off within eight years, a detail that says less about the layout and more about the kind of civic investment that built a room meant to last. That durability shows in a space still hosting the same kind of gatherings nearly ninety years later.

Amenities

Troy Robertson Catering partners with the venue, which simplifies one of the bigger vendor decisions for a couple planning a reception here. The building’s history as a functioning clubhouse, one that in 1948 furnished its upstairs as a residence for the club’s own caterer, Miss Clement, points to a property that has always kept food service close at hand rather than treating it as an afterthought.

Beyond weddings, the Thomasville Woman’s Club has a real civic record: the organization was responsible for establishing the first Davidson County Public Library and the first public kindergarten in Thomasville. That is not an amenity in the usual sense, but it is the kind of institutional weight that gives the Grand Old Dame a different character than a venue built purely for rental income.

Location & Getting There

The Grand Old Dame sits in Thomasville, NC, a fixture of the town since 1937 and still recognized as a civic landmark rather than a newly built event space. The Thomasville Woman’s Club remains a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and a member of the Thomasville Chamber of Commerce, which keeps the building connected to the town rather than operating as a standalone rental property.

For guests, that means arriving at a known, historic address in town rather than searching for a converted barn down a rural road. Indoors, the Ballroom and Finch Tea Room give a DJ two separate rooms to work with, useful if the ceremony, cocktail hour or a smaller gathering needs to be kept acoustically apart from the main reception rather than sharing one open floor.