By Ken Drenten

The Headley Inn Winery & Vineyard is housed in an historic 1830s tavern. (Credit: Ken Drenten)

Two solidly-built stone houses have stood side-by-side a few miles west of Zanesville on US 40, the National Road, since the 1830s, when the road was first built in Ohio.

The road, dotted with stone mile markers, is unique in the state as the first federally-funded highway. After its completion in Ohio in the late 1830s, the road’s use declined with the advent of railroad travel in the 1850s.

The National Road was repaved with brick starting in 1914. Automobile traffic brought about a resurgence in use of the road, and it was resurfaced with asphalt in 1932. The advent of I-70 in the 1960s caused the the road to be re-routed in many places.

The Headley Inn, a solid sandstone tavern, was built in 1833 as a stagecoach stop on the National Road and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Taverns typically served horseback riders, stagecoach passengers and pedestrians traveling on the National Road.

The Headley Inn Winery & Vineyard is now operated as a winery, vineyard and bed & breakfast.

Smith House, an 1830s drover’s tavern, houses Galloping Horse Handcrafts. (Credit: Ken Drenten)

Just next door is the Smith House, a circa 1830s drover’s tavern and inn. This larger building now houses Galloping Horse Handcrafts, a business space for crafters and artisans. You can purchase and/or learn how to create jewelry, pottery, folk art, weaving and knitting.

Both houses feature massive 18-inch-thick sandstone blocks that were quarried from an adjacent cliff. A barn is located nearby, up a hill from the two houses. The barn was once located beside the houses and was moved when the road was widened.

Drover’s houses served teamsters and drovers — usually farmers driving their livestock to market on foot. In the 1830s, great Conestoga wagons drawn by teams of six horses traveled the National Road, loaded with eastbound farm products and westbound merchandise. The wagons would pull into the yard for the night. In addition, drovers of cattle, sheep or hogs would herd their livestock into the drove-lots to be fed.

The Headley Inn is located at 5345 West Pike, west of Zanesville on US 40, (740) 487-1446. The Smith House is located at 5255 West Pike, (740) 868-4047.

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Ken Drenten is creator and manager of Dusty-Tires.com, a travel blog for out-of-the-ordinary places in Ohio.

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