NASHVILLE HOTEL

November 1, 2008

Probably the best known old building in Nashville is the old hotel. What is not known, however, is the exact date of its construction. The hotel is a wooden structure; a log building built in three sections. Originally the hotel was called The American House and records indicate it was remodeled in 1865 by Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Harris who renamed it The Sherman House.

Through the years the old hotel building has had many different uses other than hotel accommodations. It was, in part, a general store around the time of the Civil War and the Harrises advertised that The Sherman House had “A No. 1 barn for horses and carriages and good livery with same”. In the early 1890s, a portion of the hotel’s basement was also a storeroom for caskets and furniture. At various times parts of the building housed a hardware store, a harness-making shop, saloon, dry-goods store, grocery store, and millinery. These diverse businesses were often operated by various merchants.

Another part of the building was known as the Stone Jug section because it was made of large sandstone blocks. This section was used as a horse sale barn and a garage. Later, the local Knights of Pythias built their lodge hall over a basement section of the building. After World War I, they discontinued their meetings and the hall found many new uses: town hall, recreation center, apartment house, and barber shop. Today the old hotel is in use as living quarters.

An interesting side note — When the Harris family moved to Holmes County in 1817 and settled near Nashville, John Harris brought his emancipated negro slave with him as he migrated to Ohio. This man was called “Black Jake Harris”. After John’s death in 1863, Jake continued to live with the Harris children, spending his final days with Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Harris. The Harrises ran the well-known Sherman House Hotel and Black Jake helped out around this business and also worked as a janitor for the Nashville Methodist Church until his death. He is buried in the Nashville Cemetery beside the church.

Line drawing of The Sherman House Hotel in Nashville (From The 1875 Holmes County Atlas)	The American House, mid 1800s, later renamed The Sherman House
Main Street In Nashville, Ca 1905, looking West toward the old hotel but blocked by trees and showing only its two chimneys	The old hotel as it looks today

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