White House Inn

The White House Inn was a large two-story house built by Richard Stone Wilks around 1829 along the route that became the Louisville and Nashville Turnpike, now U.S. Highway 31W. Because the building was painted white at a time when many structures were left as raw wood, stagecoach drivers and travelers began referring to it as “The White House.” The inn became a landmark stop on the road between Nashville and Louisville, and the surrounding community eventually took its name from the building. The original inn was demolished in 1951, but its legacy is preserved through a historic marker near the original site and through the White House Inn Museum.