The Best Tavern life in Walton, Kentucky

The Abner Gaines House, located at 150 Old Nicholson Road in Walton, Kentucky, is a historical museum that commemorates the life and legacy of Abner Gaines, a member of the prominent Gaines family. This Federal style house, built in 1814, served as an inn and stagecoach stop on the first stagecoach line between Cincinnati and Lexington. Abner Gaines was not only a tavern and innkeeper, but also a Boone County Justice and Sheriff. The house features three stairways and ten carved mantels, showcasing the grandeur of the time period. Abner Gaines and his wife Elizabeth had 13 children, several of whom went on to achieve notable success in various fields across the United States. The house is also linked to the tragic story of Margaret Garner, an enslaved woman who sought refuge in Cincinnati before being apprehended under the Fugitive Slave Act. Her story inspired Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Beloved.