State Owned Historic Sites

Hours:

  By appointment only.

Dr. William P. Chester, a native of York County Pennsylvania and an excellent Jonesborough physician, opened the Chester Inn in 1797 on the Great Stage Road. As a physician in a small frontier town, he found it necessary to supplement his income.

The Inn is the oldest wooden frame building in the commercial district. The original structure is of the Federal style. The Victorian front porch was added in 1880 and is an example of the elaborate work of the craftsmen of the period.

The Inn was known as the finest inn on the Tennessee frontier and played host to three United States presidents-Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, and Andrew Johnson.

Today, the Inn is owned by the Tennessee Historical Commission and is home to the International Storytelling Center.

Cellar

It was here that Dr. Chester operated his apothecary shop in the late 1790s and early 1800s. Over the years, the cellar has been home to a variety of businesses and the Jonesborough public library.

Parlor and Dining Room

In 1797, the two rooms on the east side of the second floor were the parlor and the dining room. In the parlor, the Inn's guests sat around the fireplace and swapped stories. Breakfast, dinner, and supper were prepared in the nearby kitchen building and served to hungry travelers in the dining room.

The new wallpaper in these rooms represents the Victorian period. The furnishings are a combination of reproductions and antiques.

1797 Lodging Rooms

During the early days of the Chester Inn, beds lined the walls of the two large rooms on the third floor of the east side of the building. A weary traveler, eager for a good night's sleep, could rent a bed for himself or even share a bed with another guest for a lesser fee.

The Inn, quite luxurious for the time, was the first inn on the Tennessee frontier to provide featherbeds. It was here that Andrew Jackson chose to spend many nights. In 1836, the Inn was doubled in size, adding private rooms on the second and third floors of the west side of the building. These rooms are now offices.

Back Porch, Kitchen, and 1836 Dining Room

From the Inn's back porch, you will see two connected buildings. The original building from 1797, which housed the kitchen, is on the east side. The cooking was done in a separate building from the lodging rooms to reduce the chance that a kitchen fire would destroy the main part of the inn.

The building on the west side is the "new" dining room built in 1836 to accommodate the expanded number of lodging rooms. A second floor was added to the new dining room in 1892 to provide four more lodging rooms. These rooms are now meeting rooms.

Restoration

The restoration of the inn began in the early 1990s after it was purchased by the State of Tennessee. A paint analysis showed 97 thick layers of paint on the outside of the building. After much discussion, the decision was made to restore the building to its 1890s appearance because of the Victorian porch.

During this time period, most paints were tinted with natural materials such as clay. The colors you see on the Inn today were used originally because it disguised the dirt which was splashed on the building by street traffic, which consisted of horses, wagons, and the Stagecoach.

The Inn, an honored historic site, has been restored and furnished in the spirit of the 1890's.