About the Deery Inn
The Deery Inn is a two-story Dutch clapboard structure located on Main Street in Blountville, the county seat of Sullivan County. The Deery Inn is located next to the Sullivan County Court House. During its early years, it served as a main way-station on the Great Stage Road. In 1801 William Deery obtained what we refer to today as the Deery Inn Property. Deery soon expanded his trading post, adding a frame general store and a tavern with hotel rooms above. The cut stone addition was probably added in 1821, before his marriage to Elizabeth Alison. In total there are nineteen rooms, two attics, a cellar, and two kitchens.
William Deery, a man from Ulster in Ireland developed the inn into a major trading post. A successful merchant, Deery operated a thriving business as innkeeper and owner of the stage lines. The imposing manse has three main entrances. There are thirteen nine-over-six glass pane windows. Two chimneys stand sentinel at the west and east ends. The inn consists of a large entrance hall, a gathering room, dining room, library, kitchens, four family bedrooms, three bathrooms, and three wayfarers’ rooms with their own entrance.
After Deery’s death in 1845, his estate was in litigation. The next fabled owners were Gideon and Mary Cox Cates, when the inn was known as Cates’ Hotel. Cates leased the inn during the Civil War and during the Battle of Blountville, Cates bribed both the Federal and Confederate commanders not to shell the building. The Cates provided a sanctuary in the rock structure portion of the inn for infants, the ill, and the infirm. During the battle, the courthouse and eleven buildings nearby were burned, but the Deery Inn stood unscathed. The inn was purchased by Gideon and Mary Cates on 11 January 1866 for $2,527. Twenty years later, the Cates sold the inn to R. W. Easley, who immediately sold the property to Amanda Pearson in 1887. Census records show that the Pearson family operated a U.S. post office in the inn while they owned it. The Pearson’s held the property until 1940 when the property was purchased by Virginia Byars Caldwell.
Mrs. Caldwell and Judge Joseph A. Caldwell maintained the residence as an historic and cultural focus for forty years. Mrs. Caldwell restored the manse to its Federal Golden Era with authenticity and singular purpose. During the Caldwell ownership, the inn became the center for historic and festival events. Mrs. Caldwell moved numerous log structures to the back gardens, including a smokehouse, the King Ironworks office, and a spring house as well as the law office of Attorney General John Fain. To the east is the circa 1800 Rutledge House. The Deery Inn and the Rutledge House are now owned by Sullivan County and managed by the Sullivan County Historical Preservation Association.
Notable guests in the inn include Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, Louis Philippe Orleans the King of France, and the Marquis de LaFayette. The inside doors have been autographed by three Tennessee governors, including Frank Clement, Buford Ellington, and Lamar Alexander, and the front door by President Jimmy Carter.
The Deery Inn, also known as “The Old Tavern” or “The Mansion House and Store,” is a historic building on Main Street in (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blountville%2C_Tennessee Blountville, Tennessee. It is listed on the (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Register_of_Historic_Places National Register of Historic Places and is considered the “centerpiece” of the Blountville (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_district_%28United_States%29 local historic district.
Deery Inn is a two-story (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_architecture Federal-style building with 19 rooms. The original building was a (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_cabin log structure, built in the 1780s or 1790s, that served travelers passing through the area on the (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Stage_Road Great Stage Road.
William Deery, an (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_people Irish man from (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster Ulster, acquired the property in 1801. He expanded the building to include a (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_store general store and (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tavern tavern, with hotel rooms on the second (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storey story.
The building’s 19 rooms include a large entrance hall, a (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gathering_room gathering room, a dining room, a library, two kitchens, three bathrooms, two attics, a cellar, four bedrooms for the family, and three sleeping rooms for travelers. There are two (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney chimneys. The front of the building has three entrance doors and 13 windows whose glass panes are arranged in a nine-over-six configuration.
Deery prospered as a businessman. In addition to the inn, he owned and operated stores in several (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Tennessee East Tennesseecommunities , a (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagecoach_line stagecoach line that had eight stagecoaches and 53 teams of horses as of 1821, and a steamboat service between (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoxville and Chattanooga. He died in 1845. (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chattanooga
Notable people who are recorded as having stayed at the inn in its early history include (more @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_K._Polk James K. Polk, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Johnson Andrew Johnson, the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis_de_LaFayette Marquis de LaFayette (on his https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visit_of_the_Marquis_de_Lafayette_to_the_United_States U.S. travels in 1824–25), and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Philippe_I Louis Phillipe Orleans, King of France.
Old Deery Inn 