Overfield Tavern

The Overfield Tavern is an early-nineteenth-century tavern located along the banks of the Great Miami River in Troy, Ohio. It is currently open to the public as a house museum. The main structure was built by Benjamin Overfield in 1808 and served as an inn and tavern until Overfield's death in 1831.[1] The Overfield Tavern is the oldest surviving building in Troy, and one of the oldest buildings in Ohio.[2] In 1976 the structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Overfield Tavern
Overfield Tavern in 2004
Location201 E. Water St.
Troy, Ohio 45373
Coordinates40°02′23″N 84°12′02″W
Built1808
ArchitectBenjamin Overfield
Architectural styleFederal Style
Websitehttp://overfieldtavernmuseum.com/
NRHP reference No.76001495
Added to NRHPJanuary 30, 1976

The Overfield Tavern is believed to be the first house built in Troy. Additionally, the tavern served as Troy's first courthouse, with court held intermittently from 1808 to 1811.[1] In the summer of 1807, the site of Troy was selected as the county seat of Miami County and platted by Andrew Wallace late that year. Benjamin Overfield purchased Lot 2 and completed the construction of his tavern by fall 1808. According to the Commissioners records of December 16, 1808, it was “ordered that the court to be held in Miami County shall be held in the house of Benjamin Overfield in Troy until a courthouse is built; he has agreed to furnish a room for the court to sit in, gratis, during the time or term aforesaid.” Although construction began on a new courthouse in the center of the town square a few years later, it was not completed until 1824. After a fire ravaged most of the log houses along Water Street that same year, Overfield moved his tavern business to the public square in part to be closer to the new courthouse.

The property currently consists of a two-story, hewn-log building with steeple notched corners constructed in 1808 and an earlier, circa-1803 log structure attached to the north side via an enclosed dogtrot. This smaller log structure is believed to have been the original one-room log cabin constructed by Benjamin Overfield for his family. A series of one-story additions on the north and east were constructed in the mid-nineteenth century. The building displays elements of the Federal style.

References
  1. "Overfield Tavern Museum - Museum". Overfield Tavern Museum. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
  2. Stephens, Steve (22 May 2016), Take a Seat: From tavern to courthouse, town on Great Miami River filled with history, The Columbus Dispatch, retrieved 21 September 2016.
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