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The
Gower House currently occupies lot #3, but originally the whole of the Inn's property included lot #39, which is directly behind
lot #3. Many historians claim that the structure
was built between 1780 and 1800, however there is no mention of a sale prior to July 3, 1820.
William Croghan,
the original Revolutionary war Grant land holder conveyed the lot and the lot behind Gower, # 39, to James McCawley for $125.00
(E/34). This leads me to believe that the Gower House was not in existence before this date as Croghan, who lived outside
the state, still owned the land. No one would build a structure such as The Gower House without first purchasing the land
from Croghan.
Four years later, in 1824, the upper half of lot # 3 and all of lot # 39 were sold to Henry Wells
for $200.00 (AA/396). In March 1825, McCawley sold the remaining lower half of lot #3 to wells for $150.00 (AA/405).
The price difference between the 1820 sale of $250.00 and the 1824/25 sale $350.00 indicates that there had been little
improvement to the lots, certainly not an elegant Inn such as Gower House was built.
I believe that Henry Wells
had the Inn built some time after 1825 and Stanley P. Gower was the first proprioter of the Gower House and at that time had
no less than 8 guest rooms.
In November of 1829, Stanley P. Gower mortgaged to Wells for notes worth $415.85;
8 beds, furniture and bedsteads, 8 looking glasses, 6 pots, 4 ovens, tan pare & irons, 4 pair shovel and tongs, 3 dozen
knives and forks, 4 dozen plates, 12 dishes, 2 domestic carpets, 1 Yankee clock, 4 silver teas spoons, dinning table, 24 Windsor
chairs, 24 split bottom chairs, 3 teapots. 3 coffee pots, 24 cups and saucers, cart, yolk of oxen, 4 milk cows, 3 heifers,
12 decanters, 6 Demi Johns and 24 glass tumblers (CC/12).
Gower eventually purchased the property, lot #3 and five slaves in 1836 for $5,700.00. According to the deed, the house
on this lot is known as the Bell Tavern and Gower had occupied the Tavern for many years prior to the sale (EE/80). I feel
almost certain that Gower was the original proprietor of the Bell Tavern and this is why the Gower House is named as such.
Gower only owned the property for two years. In April 1838, Gower sold the lot to William Moxley for $6000.00.(EE/600).
Gower sold the contents of the Inn to Mrs. A.P. VanAllen (EE/596). This leads me to believe that by this time the Gower House
had no less than 26 guest rooms, a dinning room, a drawing room, a parlor, a tap (or gambling room), a stove room (kitchen)
and a room used for balls and dancing. That would bring the total rooms at the Tavern to just around the reported 35 rooms.
The document is a gold mine. Below is a list of the items Gower sold:
26 beds, beadsteads and furniture $520.00
150 lbs. Of new feathers $67.50
2 bolts of ticking $19.80
14 new blankets $42.00
4 bolts
domestic $10.00
4 bolts curtian calics $12.00
4 bolts cheeks $12.00
3 dressing bureaus $190.00
1 sideboard $80.00
10 large folding tables $100.00
4 card tables $16.00
27 room tables $81.00
1 sofa and settee $40.00
8 dozen chairs $64.00
24 looking glasses $12.00
1 clock $25.00
1 pair of card tables $40.00
1 parlor carpet $40.00
1 drawing room carpet $10.00
7 room carpets
$10.00
4 hearth rugs $12.00
15 work stands and 12 wash stands $54.00
2 rocking chairs $8.00
24 pictures of various kinds $8.00
4 Sarge paintings & sketches $20.00
2 shades and lamps for dinning
room$6.00
8 doz. Knoves and forks $40.00
12 doz plates large and small sizes $24.00
4 doz cups
$6.00
48 dishes $36.00
24 bowls $12.00
22 silver tablespoons $45.00
1 plated coffee urn
$35.00
5 sets of reams and casters $20.00
12 salt glapes $5.00
2 doz silver teaspoons $18.00
5 doz cups and saucers $10.00
3 turreens $3.00
4 teapots and 4 coffeepots $6.00
4 doz tumblers
$8.00
9 decanters in the dinning room $12.00
6 silver candlesticks for rooms $10.00
3 snuffers
$6.00
24 common candlesticks for rooms $7.00
12 wine glasses $4.00
24 glasses cut and plain belonging
to sideboard $30.00
6 table cloths $12.00
14 washboards and 16 pitchers $16.00
3 doz chamber pots
$18.00
6 coal buckets, shovels and tongs $10.00
1 large cooking stove together with all the vessels for
cooking - the stove room $40.00
4 pots, 4 ovens, tea kettles and shovels $8.00
6 tubs, 6 buckets, 2 flesh
forks, 2 ladels $10.00
4 kitchen tables $4.00
4 venetian blinds for parlor windows $8.00
24 Windsor
curtians $12.00
30 mattresses, mostly old $30.00
1 piano, cover and stool $60.00
6 large waiters
and small $10.00
3 carvinf knives & 3 forks, 3 steel $3.00
3 sugar tongs and 3 butter knives $7.00
400 lbs of bacon $40.00
3 keggs of lard $12.00
All totaling $2222.30
It would appear that
Moxley may have rented out or even hired VanAllen to run the tavern for him as this amount of furniture would have been a
chore to move and Moxley would have had to replace all the furnishings.. In 1828 James VanAllen was the porprioter at James
McCawley’s tavern down Water Street at his house on lot # 18 (BB/267).
It was during this time that Ned Buntline
came to Smithland and published his newspaper, "Ned Buntline's Own".--
At some point between the 1838
sale to Moxley and 1841, Henry Wells reacquired the Inn. Upon Henry Wells’s death in 1841 the property
passed to Henry's half brother John Wells from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Benjamin Barner, who was Henry Well's partner,
became the "Agent and Attorney" for the estate. John Wells died in 1845 and the property passed to his son in law,
Woodward Allen. Allen was married to John Well's daughter, Harriett and was the owner of the large RobWood Plantation in Spartanburg. I have many letters from Benjamin Barner to both John Wells and
Woodward Allen detailing his attempts to sell the Gower House. Smithland was in decline and in one of the letters he blames
this not only on the malaria epidemics but the annexation of Texas. Barner thought that there would be a large migration to
Texas. He had rented out the Inn for two years in a row an unnamed for $100.00 a year, but noted that the he had
failed to pay all of the first years rent. Finally on January 9th, 1849, Barner writes to Allen that he had succeeded in selling the property for
$1800.00. Unfortunately he did not name the buyer. I do believe that the property was sold to the Masonic Lodge of Smithland, #138, of Ancient York
Masons. There was an act passed on Feb 21st, 1849 by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky that conveyed
Lot #3, "with it's buildings and appurtenaces commonly known as the "Gower House" to be used for the accomodation
of said lodge and for Masonic and benevolent purposes." It goes on further to say that the Lodge may at their disgression
sell the property. Whether or not the Lodge
sold the property, I believe the next proprietor of the Gower house was John c McGraw. Listed in the Smithland Kentucky 1850 census are two men who list their occupation
as "Hotel Keepers", John C McGraw and D.W. Patterson. In an article published by the Livingston County Genealogy Society in 2001 Edmonia Patterson Daniel,
who had lived in Smithland during the Civil War, recounts how General Lew Wallace had taken over her family's hotel to
house his soldiers. During the Civil War, the
Gower House was the private residence of the Zanona family and could not have been this hotel. John C McGraw was 45 in 1850. His household included
his wife Lucy, 3 children (Susan, Ben, and Ellen) and 10 adult slaves. The census lists 22 men in residence.
Among them were John M Dix, clerk; John Snyder, Justice of the Peace; John H Martin, Postmaster; James Hughes, Sheriff; and
Thomas Leach, Merchant. There was also a physician, a brick maker, 13 men whose occupations were listed as boatmen and
one female, Ellen Van Allen. I believe these people were residing at the Gower House.
By the mid 1850's Smithland began to decline. The river was no longer the main route of travel.
People and goods were now using the railway. The final blow came when the Louisville and Nashville Railroad by-passed Smithland.
Per many diffrent accounts, The Masonic Lodge purchased the lot at auction for $557.00 in 1855. If the Lodge
owned the property in 1849, then sold the property to John McGraw, why would they repurchase the Gower House? Untill
I can search the deads during this time, I can not determine the answer.
In 1857 fire destroyed over half
of the structure. Local folk lore suggests that a slave girl emptied hot coals which ignited the fire. A Methodist Minister's
conference was being held at the time and it is said that they formed a bucket brigade to the river and extinguished the blaze.
This is noted in the minutes of the meeting.
In 1860, the Zanone family from Genoa Italy purchased the property
and remaining building from the Masonic Lodge for $700.00. They ran a post office from Gower House and also owned a grocery
store in Smithland. For some reason in 1869, the family sold the lot to S. Littlefield, but repurchased the house the same
year for $2000.00. (5/219, 7/403).
The property remained in the Zanone family until 1969 when Dr. David
Hoy, a local author and lecturer, bought the property and intended to restore it. Unfortunately, Hoy died before his dreams
could be realized.
The property was sold to the Roberts/Fraley Family who remain the owners to this day and intend
to restore the house and open a restaurant.
The house and many outbuildings were damaged in the floods of 1884
and 1937.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
In 1996, Jay M. Stottman of the Kentucky Archaeology Survey, conducted
a small scale excavation of the site of a former kitchen located just behind Gower’s remaining el (15Lv178).
Stottman surmises that first event affecting the area was the construction of the stone foundation found in Stratum 6 &
7. These Stratum represent a construction episode, as the next lowest level was void of any artifacts. At that time a small
hole was dug to possibly hold the scaffolding. Once construction was completed the area around the foundation was filled with
soil, trash and ash. Artifacts suggest that this action probably took place between the 1830s to mid 1800s. Also in this level
was evidence of a large scale burning. We know the Gower House burned in 1857.
Stratum 6, which consisted of a
dark brown sandy loam with ash, brick, stone, and mortar inclusions was dated to 1830 or later. Also found was a change in
the stone foundation, which extended 13 cm out. Stottman believes that this was the original sub-foundation for the kitchen.
In Stratum 7 the ledge retracts back 5 cm, possibly representing a building trench for the foundation. Stratum 7 is also dated
to 1830.
The next layer, Stratum 5, consisted of a layer of sand and represent a flooding episode. It produced
only 21 artifacts. Using two shards of undecorated whiteware and one machine cut nail, Stottman dated this layer to the early
or late 1800's.
Stratum 3 and 4 which consisted of a lighter colored ash and a compact ash fill, probably represents
ash and trash mixed from the late 1800s. This level represents clean-up and repair passably from the flood represented in
Stratum 5. Stottman surmises that this layer was refuse from the kitchen and perfectly normal. He dated this level to 1880.
Stratum 1 and 2 are Topsoil and Cellar Fill. According to the owner of the Gower House, the cellar of the kitchen
had been filled within the past few years. Stottman associated the artifacts and soil composition to a date of sometime after
1979.
Using Stottman’s findings we can see the events at Gower unfold. Between 1825 and 1835, the Gower
House was built. In 1857, the Inn was destroyed by a massive fire that took over half the structure. Clean up and repair then
took place and the kitchen was added to the back of the house. A flood damaged the kitchen in 1884 and finally the kitchen
was pulled down and the cellar filled in.
Also in his report were notes from an interview with two members of
the Zanone family. They stated that when their family purchased the house, it was 25 acres to the water. A summer kitchen
was already built before the sale. They remember a tunnel connected the slave quarters (the structure next to Gower House)
to the summer kitchen. They also recall a formal garden in the middle of the courtyard where herbs and grapes were grown and
an L shaped stable to the rear.
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