General Information

From the 1760’s, travelers came by horse and wagon down the Island Road to the Holston river bank where they built boats and migrated west. Built by William King between 1802 and 1808 for the purpose of developing a boat yard from which to ship his salt, the Inn was sold at a Sheriff’s sale in 1818 to Richard Netherland. He immediately pro-cured a stage stop contract and established it as as an inn and tavern on the old Great Stage Road, the main route to Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee. The Inn has hosted many famous persons including Presidents Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson and James K. Polk and became a popular place in the busy boat Yard community.

Today, Netherland Inn hosts tours of the inn and grounds as wells as special events throughout the year including the Teddy Bear Picnic, Old Tyme Fiddlers and Bluegrass Festival, Haunted Historic Inn and the 1818 Candlelight Christmas Party.

Rising above the Holston River, Netherland Inn has been fully restored as a historic house museum. This three-story Federal architectural “gem” is one of the south’s most important American frontier settlements.

Additional buildings on the property include a reconstructed kitchen wing, a Log Cabin Children’s Museum, which was moved to Netherland Inn from Boone’s Kentucky Wilderness Road in Virginia. Daniel Boone and his family lived in this cabin at times between 1773-1775. Other structures on the property are the Weilhouse which shelters the old stone-line well, a school house and the Pence Reception Center and Gift Shop.

The Museum of Pioneer Transportation in the Hal T. Spoden Bank Barn houses ledgers and artifacts from the King’s Boat Yard and George Hale’s Boatyard Store.  Tours of the Museum are included when touring he Netherland Inn complex.