The Old Talbott Tavern, also known as the Old Stone Tavern, a historic tavern built in 1779, is located in the Bardstown Historic District

Bardstown Historic District

The Bardstown Historic District, comprising the center of Bardstown, Kentucky, is a registered historic district on the National Register of Historic Places...

 of Bardstown, Kentucky

Bardstown, Kentucky

As of the census of 2010, there were 11,700 people, 4,712 households, and 2,949 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 5,113 housing units at an average density of...

, across from the historic Nelson County Courthouse. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 on October 30, 1973. According to tradition, the tavern has never closed since its opening in 1779.

History

The Old Talbott Tavern was built in 1779, a year before the settlement of Salem (later renamed Bardstown) began, making it the "oldest western stagecoach stop" still in operation. According to an old map of Bardstown, the lot was originally purchased by a man named Hynes; the tavern was called the Hynes Hotel. It was strategically located near the end of the stagecoach road that once led east to Philadelphia and Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. George Rogers Clark

George Rogers Clark

George Rogers Clark was a soldier from Virginia and the highest ranking American military officer on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. He served as leader of the Kentucky militia throughout much of the war...

 used it as a resource base during the end of the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

); Daniel Boone

Daniel Boone

Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...

 stayed here, and the exile

Exile

Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...

d Louis-Philippe of France

Louis-Philippe of France

Louis Philippe I was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 in what was known as the July Monarchy. His father was a duke who supported the French Revolution but was nevertheless guillotined. Louis Philippe fled France as a young man and spent 21 years in exile, including considerable time in the...

, stayed at the tavern on October 17, 1797, with a member of his entourage painting murals that were rediscovered in the 20th century and were on display until the 1998 fire.

Visitors in the 19th century included future presidents Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...

, William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the United States , an American military officer and politician, and the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, 23 days old when elected, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the...

, and Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

. Lincoln's parents stayed at the tavern when a court ruling went against them, leading the family to move to Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

 when Lincoln was only seven years old. Other prominent figures who visited the tavern were Henry Clay

Henry Clay

Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...

, the inventor of steamboat

Steamboat

A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...

s John Fitch

John Fitch (inventor)

John Fitch was an American inventor, clockmaker, and silversmith who, in 1787, built the first recorded steam-powered boat in the United States...

, environmentalist John James Audubon

John James Audubon

John James Audubon was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his expansive studies to document all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats...

, songwriter Stephen Foster

Stephen Foster

Stephen Collins Foster , known as the "father of American music", was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century...

, and Jesse James

Jesse James

Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...

, who is said to have been the cause of the bullet holes in the murals as he was drunk and shooting at imaginary butterflies.

George Talbott purchased the tavern in 1886. Within two years, six of his children died in the tavern, included one by falling down the stairs, and another hanging herself after being unlucky in love.

Queen Marie

Marie of Edinburgh

Marie of Romania was Queen consort of Romania from 1914 to 1927, as the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania.-Early life:...

 of Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 is known to have lunched at the tavern in 1926. Likewise, World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 general George Patton once visited the tavern.

Throughout its history, the tavern has been called different names: Hynes House, Bardstown Hotel, Chapman's House, Shady Bower Hotel, the Newman House,
Talbott Hotel, Talbott Tavern, and the Old Stone Tavern. The Talbott Tavern was the official name from 1885 to 1968.

On March 7, 1998, a fire damaged the tavern, severely damaging the roof and second floor. The fire also damaged the Louise-Phillippe murals, which have still not been restored. The renovations to repair the fire damage were described as "generic". The Old Talbott Tavern reopened on November 9, 1999.

The old Talbott Tavern currently serves as both a restaurant and a five-room bed and breakfast

Bed and breakfast

A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...

. A writer for Travel and Leisure magazine described it as having "slightly spooky charm". It has been featured on Food Network

Food Network

Food Network is a television specialty channel that airs both one-time and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns 70 percent of the network, with Tribune Company controlling the remaining 30 percent....

 and Travel Channel

Travel Channel

The Travel Channel is a satellite and cable television channel that is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, US. It features documentaries and how-to shows related to travel and leisure around the United States and throughout the world. Programming has included shows in African animal safaris,...

, and was once ranked the 13th most haunted inn in the United States.

It is next to the historic Nelson County Jail

Nelson County Jail

The historic Nelson County Jail in the Bardstown Historic District in Bardstown, Kentucky is a property on the National Register of Historic Places. It is next door to the Old Talbott Tavern....

.

Construction

The original tavern consisted of the present eastern section, built of stone walls two feet thick and heavy ceiling timbers, with two separate fireplaces to cook the food. It originally had two guest rooms on the second floor: one for men and one for women, as individual rooms for guests did not become widespread in the United States until the early 19th century. The brick western section was built a century later.