Tavern
The tavern on the east of the house may seem small. In the early 1800s, rarely did more than a few travelers visit at any one time, so the room was just large enough to accommodate four or five people. The area for food and drink services was customarily separated from the main room by a gate or bars-hence the idea of calling places that serve alcohol "bars." The bar is a modern reproduction, but we know it is in the correct location in the room, because of the original track marks on the floor.
The fireplace is of the Adams Brothers design. It is shallow to reflect heat into the room. If the walls appear drab, it is because in those days one had to wash the walls each year to remove the soot residues. In fact, the walls throughout the house are "whitewashed."
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The stairs in the back yard up to the second floor are new and conform to fire safety codes, but when the house was an inn, such stairs allowed guests to go up to the meeting room on the second level without disturbing the family in the main house.
Meeting Room
Guests probably used the outside stairs to reach this room. This room served a dual purpose of providing a meeting room and a dormitory-style sleeping room. The room was probably furnished merely with straw pallets. Note the Seth Thomas clock on the mantle.
The fireplace, off centered on the East wall, is called a half-fireplace, because it required only half the wood and had only half the ashes. It uses the tavern flue. There was no fireplace on the West wall making use of the parlor flue.
The chandeliers are reproductions of a candelabra-type that could be lifted from the hook and moved about. They have been electrified by concealing the wire in hollow tubes.
The floor is made of eastern pine. You may notice little squares about the room. To hide their valuables while they slept, guests may have cut these out and laid their sleeping pallets over them. Some of the objects in the display case were discovered under the floorboards.
The room is now set up to represent a Masonic lodge as it might have appeared in the 1800's. In fact though, there is no evidence that the room was regularly used for Masonic meetings.
Dining Room
This is the last room of the original house. It was the original kitchen, as the family grew there was need to add what is now called the kitchen. The Lanier family probably did most of their cooking and living here.
Make special note of the Kentucky cherry sugar chest on the west wall. Sugar was expensive in the early days, and the chest has a lock to secure it. Note the several pieces of fine pewter and crock-pots.
Most of the fireplaces have closets next to them. All of the closets have shelves, without the shelves, the closets would have been taxed as rooms. Above the fireplace is a clock with a mirror on the mantle. In the 1800s mirrors were very expensive items.
Although this room was a part of the original house, the floor had to be replaced during the 1970's restoration. All the other floors are original.
The print of the house is meant to represent the time period when the Masons organized their Grand Lodge that mid-winter day in 1818. Darryl Veach, a Past Grand Master, painted it and copies can be purchased in the tavern.