Smith's Tavern is a historic building in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

History

It is a two-story clapboard " I-house" with a shed-roof porch at the front and a one-story kitchen addition to the rear. The house has two

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...

led gable end

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typic ...

s and a large chimney at the rear of the old kitchen addition. The brick courses in one of the gable-end chimneys are laid in a diamond patterned tapestry, offset by glazed headers. The tapestried chimney is one of few remaining in South Carolina. Captain William James Smith, a revolutionary army officer from Pennsylvania, built the home in 1790. It served as a

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

stops that offered room and board and was referred to as "Smith's Tavern." It overlooks two 18th century roads. One of these roads is Blackstock Road, now known as Hwy. 215, was a primary route to drive cattle from Columbia, South Carolina to

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

, hence its name. The other road intersected Blackstock Road is now known as McAbee and Otts Shoals Roads. The southernmost road, Otts Shoals, leads to the historic plantation of Walnut Grove, site of a revolutionary skirmish. The land around the "Smith's Tavern" house was bought in 1970 by the Crescent Company, and it was divided into lots and the lots were sold.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina Houses completed in 1790 Houses in Spartanburg County, South Carolina I-houses in South Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Spartanburg County, South Carolina {{SpartanburgCountySC-NRHP-stub