As long as there have been roads, there have been businesses that served the traveler. During the National Road’s early days, horses carried travelers or pulled them along in wagons or coaches. Inns dotted the road, providing a place for the traveler to eat and drink, care for his horses, and sleep. They appeared every ten miles or so – about the distance a traveler could expect to cover in a day back then. Several taverns still stand along the National Road, and remarkably a few of them still serve the traveler in some way.
Just west of Zanesville, two inns stand next to each other. The first is the Smith House, built in the 1830s of sandstone block 18 inches thick. It served drovers and the livestock they walked to market.
The Headley Inn is next door. Also made of sandstone block, it was completed in 1830. It has six fireplaces. The Headley Inn and the Smith House are both private residences today.
Lafayette is a small town about 20 miles west of Columbus. It is said that the National Road didn’t extend this far west until about 1837, which is when the Red Brick Tavern opened for business. When the railroad rose to prominence in the 1850s and traffic on the National Road dried up, the tavern’s fortunes fell. It closed in 1859.
The families that owned it then lived in it and rented portions of it as residences for other families. The third floor was even used as a school for a while. The automobile made the National Road important again in the early 20th century, and so in 1924 the Red Brick’s owners reopened it as a restaurant. It still feeds US 40 travelers today.
I’ve also photographed and written about National Road inns in Maryland and Indiana. Check them out!
I’ve driven the National Road from its beginning in Baltimore, MD to its end in Vandaila, IL. To read everything I’ve ever written about it, click here.
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