There’s a two-story brick building – built as an inn and tavern in the early 19th century – located on the riverbank in Smithland, Kentucky. The facade is laid in Flemish bond, and is six bays wide, with two doors on the first story. A series of porches span the side and rear elevations, and I can imagine travelers resting at this site above the confluence of the Cumberland and Ohio Rivers. My imagination must fill in many gaps, since the building – originally the Bell Tavern – has been silent, shuttered, and languishing in a netherworld sort of existence for decades.
Façade and south elevation of the Bell Tavern, Smithland, Kentucky.
But when constructed, this brick building was a potent symbol of the growth of the river town and a testament to the importance of river trade and traffic. Although the National Register of Historic Places nomination claims the tavern dates to 1780, a more realistic date of construction would be between 1805 and 1820. Although flatboats/keelboats plied the rivers, it wasn’t until the second decade of the 19th century and the steamboat that river traffic became easier and more reliable.
Looking toward the reason for Smithland’s being – the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers.
In the mid 1820s, Stanley Gower received a tavern license to run an establishment at his house in Smithland, Kentucky.** As part of that license, Gower was charged tp “find and provide in his said Tavern good wholesome Cleanly Lodging and diet, for Travellers and Stablige and provider or pasturage for horses.”
The ell in 1973. Image from the NRHP files.
Gower was still at the helm in 1841, when a fire broke out in Smithland. A reporter for the Nashville Union reported that “a demon incarnate, as yet unknown, and for whom a large reward is offered, set fire to the store-house of Messrs. Gordon & Barnett, which contained several kegs of gunpowder; and before any of our citizens were apprised of it, the large building, with all its contents, was blown into fragments… 1,000 lights of glass were broke in Major Gower’s tavern and adjacent buildings. No lives were lost; but hundreds would have been killed had not the explosion taken place at the moment the fire was discovered.”***
Smithland, despite its favorable location on two rivers, didn’t become the county seat of Livingston County until 1842, a move that prompted much growth and development – and good business for Gower.
Porches on the south side of the ell.
Purportedly, the Bell Tavern was built in a U-shape, but a portion of that original configuration was destroyed by fire in 1857. It’s interesting to speculate how that would have been achieved – the missing “leg” of the U must have extended toward the north at the end of the ell (the east gable end now), forming a narrow courtyard.
The gable end visible in this photograph does suggest a good deal of alteration – perhaps the location of the destroyed segment of the building from 1857?
I have no firsthand knowledge of the arrangement of the floorplan or interior finishes, but the exterior conveys the influence of the Federal style of architecture, which persisted in popularity in Kentucky until the Civil War. Jackarches top the windows, and the doors on the south elevation of the ell have panelled jambs. The double-hung sash windows range from nine lights over six, to six over six, and two over two.
A window on the east elevation.
According to the 1973 NRPH nomination, which was completed by the owner at the time, the remaining portion of the building contained “12 rooms, each containing a fireplace with the original, hand-hewn and decorated mantles still intact.” There is no mention of how the interior rooms are laid out.
The Bell Tavern in 1973. Photograph from the NRHP files.
Following the 1857 fire that so greatly altered the building, it was purchased by the Zanone family from Italy, who maintained it as a dwelling until the 1960s. From there, it seems that the former tavern simply hung on to its riverbank location. Various restorations were begun and then petered out.
In 2010, a local news story reported on a move to allow “by the drink” alcohol sales in Smithland. One of the chief proponents of the drive was the then-owner of the Bell Tavern, who was quoted “detailing her plans to renovate and restore the historic Gower House into a restaurant. Dianne Fraley expects the project to take about two years and require about a million dollars in funding. She wants to preserve the building’s historical appearance and integrity as well as that of its outlying buildings. Fraley also wants to bring in livestock to create what she calls a ‘frontier experience.’ “***
Location of Smithland, Kentucky.
I first saw the Bell Tavern in 2009, and have revisited Smithland several times since then (most recently in September 2021). I haven’t seen signs of either livestock or a restoration in progress.
Although Smithland is small (332 people at the last census), it is a gloriously beautiful place, and only around 18 miles northeast of Paducah, Kentucky. The rivers, the bluffs – and some amazing historic architecture. Since the Bell Tavern is listed in the National Register, it is eligible for historic tax credits, which could help bring it into a livable state. Someone just needs to take a chance on bringing it back to life (but please, not as a frontier petting zoo kind of place). Kentucky has lost more its historic taverns and inns than we have managed to save – this building deserves to be preserved and to be used.
*Crittenden Press. (Marion, Ky.) 1879-1907, April 11, 1895, Image 1 – Chronicling America – The Library of Congress.
**https://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/09/?m=0
***Alexandria Gazette, Volume 41, number 309, 30 December 1841.
****https://www.wkms.org/news-archive/2010-11-04/smithland-woman-details-gower-house-plans
Romantically fascinating!
Thank you.