Potts Inn
Kirkbride Potts, with help from his
wife Pamelia Logan Potts, designed and constructed this large and stately
building between 1850 and 1858. He patterned it after the Classical
Revival style he knew in his home state of Pennsylvania; however he built it
with local labor and native materials. Lumber for siding and trim, bricks
for chimneys, and laths and plaster for walls were designed and finished on
site. Only doors, mantels, and glass window panes were factory made and
shipped up the Arkansas River.
The building served as a post office,
a social and cultural center, and inn, overnight Butterfield Stage stop, and
home. The Butterfield line closed at the beginning of the War in 1861.
With the stage line gone and four years of devastating war and its aftermath,
Potts Inn changed. The inn provided fine accommodations for early
travelers and new customers. For example, it furnished food and lodging
for surveyors and engineers working for the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railway
Company.
Pamelia Potts died August 5, 1878 and
Kirkbride followed, November 27, 1879. Both are buried in Potts Cemetery
overlooking the land of Galla Creek. Potts' descendants occupied the home
until they sold it to the Pope County Historical Foundation in 1970.
National Register of Historical
Places 1970.
