History of this historic site

The Sandford Duncan Inn was built around 1819. The inn is a log structure covered with plank weatherboarding a few years later. Sandford Duncan was an important local leader. He owned over 500 acres of farmland. He helped lay out the state line between Kentucky and Tennessee and was instrumental in the formation of Simpson County. Duncan was one of the first members of the Masonic fraternity in Simpson County.

The Duncans were slaveholders like many of their neighbors in this area. In 1850 ten enslaved persons lived on the Duncan property. They helped operate the inn and worked in the farm’s fields and stables.