The Netherland Inn

The historic three story building on the Holston River.

For more than 200 years, the Netherland Inn has stood on the banks of the Holston River on the Old Stage Road, at the very spot where Kingsport began.

The three-story structure has been beautifully restored and maintained, offering a glimpse of the past to visitors.

HISTORY

Kingsport can trace its heritage back to Col. Gilbert Christian, of the Virginia Colonial Militia. He had served in the area and after mustering out in 1772, he brought his family to settle along Reedy Creek. Other families settled there and the village of Christianville grew. It was near Christian’s home that the Donnelson Flotilla crashed in route to what is now Nashville. The people of Christianville helped the families repair their boats.

After Gilbert Christian died in 1802, his son Robert Christian, subdivided his father’s vast lands and sold 3.5 acres, the westernmost portion, to William King, of Saltville, Virginia, for the sum of $60.

King owned huge salt mines in Virginia and wanted the land as a shipping point to send his salt into the west. He realized the commercial potential of the property; the Island Road and the Reedy Creek Road, two of the oldest in the country, ended at the Holston River and that people and goods going west would need to continue their journey by water.

King established King’s Boatyard in 1802. It came to be called “King’s Port.” The construction of a three-story building that would become the Netherland Inn took from 1802 until 1808. Its original purpose was to be a dormitory to house the men King would hire to build flatboats to transport his salt west.

He also built wharves, warehouses, a large three-story barn, and scale sheds. John Lynn was hired to manage the boatyard. “King’s Port” became a bustling commercial center grew along continued on page 22

Room on the second floor.

The kitchen of the inn.

A sleeping room. Multiple beds were in the same room.

Jordan and Jane, slaves — Jordan belonged to the Netherlands and married Jane, who belonged to a neighboring family.

From page 20 the river banks, as flatboats carried salt, iron ingots, produce, furs, mountain herbs, and other goods.

After King died in 1808, John Lynn continued to manage the boatyard until 1814. The boatyard was leased to George Hale, a prominent merchant and farmer from Rogersville. All went very well for Hale until the spring of 1816, when the “year without a summer” happened. A volcanic eruption in the East Indies significantly change the weather of the southeastern U.S. bringing freezing temperatures, snow and ice in the summer.

With no produce and herbs and wagons of salt and iron unable to reach the boatyard, the economy and the boatyard business were devastated. Hale lost his shipping contracts. In 1817, Hale turned his store over to his brother and retired to his farm in Rogersville. A few months later, the land and buildings of King’s Boatyard were sold at a Sheriff’s auction.

Since 1810, Richard and Margaret Netherland and their children had been living on the Long Island of the Holston where they had a large plantation on the land inherited through Margaret’s family. Richard envisioned a business opportunity, watching the stagecoach traffic that ran daily along the Great Stage Road in front of the King property. Netherland purchased the lands and buildings at a sheriff’s auction and obtained a stagecoach contract. Netherland, his wife and six of his 10 children, moved into the three-story building, and opened it as The Netherland Inn.

The Inn remained in the Netherland family until 1906 and played a role in many important historical events.

Presidents Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, and James K. Polk all stayed at the Inn. The first Charter for the City of Kingsport was signed in the first floor rooms in 1822, joining the villages of Christianville and Rossville into one.

Richard Netherland served as county clerk for Sullivan County and many business meetings were held there as well as meetings of the first committees attempting to bring the railroads into eastern Tennessee. The Inn became a popular gathering place for locals as well as a favored stop for coaches along the Great Stage Road.

In much of the 1900s, the Inn was a boarding house. Interestingly, the room that had served as a bar in earlier times was boarded up for a time during this period. The Inn was a popular place for the dances held on the first floor in the public rooms.

The inn was then developed into the historic site that it is today. Cabins were moved in and placed where slave cabins once stood. The Bank Barn was added in 2009.

The Netherland Inn is open for tours on Saturdays and Sundays from 2 to 5 p.m., May through October. (NOTE: Due to changing COVID situations, readers may want to call ahead and make sure that the Inn is open.) It is available for weddings and other private events, (please see www.netherlandinn.com for rentals).

Special events are held throughout the year, including the Lo Country Boil and the 1818 Christmas at the Netherland Inn.

The Inn is a registered National Historic Site and the only site on the register to have been both a boatyard and a stagecoach stop. It is operated by the Netherland Inn Association, an all-volunteer organization, and is supported by association memberships, donations, and fund raisers.

(Special thanks for help with this article go to Jennifer “Rusty” Light and caretaker Tommy Hammonds.)

— By Randy Ball

James NETHERLAND

James Netherland was a prominent physician. He served as Zachary Taylor’s personal physician. His desk and medical bag are displayed at the inn. He was also a violinist.

The Sad Story of Mollie NETHERLAND

The sad love story of the beautiful Mollie Netherland and Hugh Graham Kyle is displayed in the inn. They were to be married but Mollie was killed in a riding accident. Kyle kept this photo of her at his bedside, even after eventually married.

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The CABINS

Three cabins have been moved to the property from the surrounding area. They sit where the original slave cabins once stood.

THE PENCE HOUSE

This log house was located in the fertile Reedy Creek Valley on the Edgeman-Pence 200 acre plantation, part of the Pendleton Grant, purchased in 1805 from James Gaines by Samuel Edgeman for $600. The land and house remained the Pence family well into the 20th century. In 1995, the historic Pence log house was donated by Joe Wimberly and Carl Braun. It now serves as the visitors’ center and gift shop.

THE BOONE CABIN

The Boone cabin also serves as a children’s museum. “In 1979/80, this cabin was carefully dismantled and moved from beside the Kentucky wilderness road in Duffield, VA and reassembled here on the foundation site of the Netherland slave cabin, home of a beloved slave, Jordan Netherland and his wife Jane Lynn. This was the 1773-75 home of Daniel & Rebecca Boone and later the Ephraim Fraley home. It is a fine specimen of the typical early pioneer log architecture of the region.” Donated by Jerry Legg. THE OLD SCHOOLHOUSE

The Old Schoolhouse is described in an on-site plaque as “an Ordinary (inn) – home – schoolhouse, built by 1790.” The description continues: “By 1790, David Ross’ Ordinary at the junction of the Great Stage Road (Bloomingdale Pike) and Reedy Creek Road (W. Sullivan Street); 1795 leased home/inn of sheriff William & Nancy McCormack; 1817, owned by Jacob and Rose Myers; 1854, owners Draper, then Kendrick; 1878 Prof. “Hawk” & Ellen (Groseclose) Copenhaver home & school; 1892 section of well-known merchant Thomas L. Nelms family home; restored at this location 1986; originally a two-story building, only enough logs survived to preserve one story. Its small dependency was moved intact.”

THE BANK BARN

The Bank Barn was built into the embankment and provided a stable on the first level and a second floor for stage coaches and wagon repair. From the early 1800s it remained in use until the 1920s or 1930s. The present building was reconstructed on the original site, and portions of the original limestone foundation are visible. The Hal T. Spoden Bank Barn now houses the Museum of Pioneer Transportation, including ledgers and artifacts from the King’s Boat Yard and George Hale’s Boatyard Store.

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