Eades Tavern

Text

Marker #1824 describes Eades Tavern, one of the oldest surviving buildings in Paris. It has served as tavern, post office, school, and private home.

Thomas Eades built the log portion of Eades Tavern around 1795. The first travelers who stopped at the tavern were usually traversing the road from Limestone (now Maysville), on the Ohio River, to Lexington. At this time the road was described as "no more than a buffalo trace," but it was still busy in these early years with mail carriers, salesmen with their wares, and early settlers. Like many early taverns, Eades Tavern served patrons meals of bacon and Indian corn, and offered whiskey drinks. For certain extra fees, visitors received "good cleanly lodging and diet for travelers, stableage and provender for horses."

As roads improved and stage coaches came into use business at taverns like Eades increased. These multi-passenger carriages, bounded over the dirt and corduroy roads (logs laid together across the roads), often got stuck in the mud, sometimes overturned, and often required their passengers to patronize taverns and inns during stops and repairs.

In addition to serving as owner and master of the tavern, Thomas Eades kept the first post office in Paris, which was the fifth in the state. In 1803, Eades Tavern became the law office of Robert Trimble, a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives. The tavern was his home, his law office, and the place where he married his wife. Later, in 1826, Trimble became a member of the United States Supreme Court.

In 1846, John Lyle Walker bought Eades Tavern and lived there while he edited one of the local Paris newspapers. In the 1890s "Miss Lizzie" Pullen Walker held a private school in the rear of the house. She held the opening services, musical activities, and prayers in the front parlor. The Walker family owned Eades Tavern for 127 years. Since 1973 several owners have added on, restored, and renovated this notable Paris landmark.