Quaker Settlements And Stage Stations Along The National Road

There are 92 Counties dividing up Indiana into County Seat Government. Those 92 Counties got their names from Gen. Harrison's soldiers killed at the Battle of Tippecanoe. By starting in the Quaker City of Richmond, Indiana, in Wayne County and following The Old National Road, Highway 40, we go west a little ways and we are still in Wayne County, but we find some smaller villages on this route with Historical and Architectural value. Some are totally unique to the United States. Buildings where common walls were put up in front of the original buildings and archways constructed so all the buildings were connected by archways. It is quite pretty and practical, getting people in out of the weather to walk into several shops with the earliest colonial architectural examples.

All the Stage Coach Inns along The Old National Road had one thing in common. They were put up on the route every so many miles. Then a team of horses pulling a coach could travel at a fast pace and had a stage station or Inn with fresh horses when that distance was spanned and the horses were spent. People stopped while the driver changed teams and ate their dinners and warmed up in front of a common room fire and attended to personal needs.

The Inn was not very deep; but very wide in the front with a second story above the kitchen and the main rooms. There were windows in the front of the building and none on the ends of this red brick edifice! On either end of the building there was a huge fireplace and directly above it on the second story level on either end were two more fireplaces. This had dormitory type sleeping accommodations; with a separate partition or room for women travelers. I have been along these roads all my life and in the small towns that grew up around these old Inns, I have been able to spot the old Inns still standing there today. They are made into shops and Bed and Breakfast Inns today. Today some are missing in the allotted mileage that I expect to see another one; then I know that it was destroyed by fire or natural disaster.

Centerville has several examples of Colonial Architecture. They also have an Archway Festival every year. They have fabric shops for quilters and many quilts to be viewed during the festival. It is quaint and pretty here, with a profusion of flower beds and beautiful stately old trees of Maple and Oak lining the streets.

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