Bedingfield Inn

Public Room

Empire Drop Front Desk

This is the room where traveling men and local men gathered to talk crops, politics, exchange news and views, smoke and drink. It is the only room in the Inn where the wainscoting has had to be replaced. An even older house was found near here and this paneling was painstakingly removed piece by piece and put back up here. The mantel came from the same house. (This paneling was given by the wife and children of the late Mr. E.C. Phillips, Sr. of Cuthbert, Georgia, whose family home it came from).

All fireplaces were found to be black in color and all the ceilings were green.

The Public Room was like the lobby of a hotel, but generally men used it.

The old map is an original map around 1830, given to the Columbus Museum by Mr. Dexter Jordan of Columbus, and then, with his permission given to the Inn. The roads shown on it would have been some of the stagecoach roads of this time.

The empire drop front desk (not pictured) by the door originally came from an old inn in Sparta, Georgia. The pigeon holes were probably used for guest’s mail. Mr. Farrish bought it in 1905 from Linwood Cemetery. It is mahogany and the front is veneered.

Childs family cupboard made in Stewart County

The desk on the other side of the door was given by Mr. Johnny Laing of Cuthbert, Georgia. It is pine with tapered legs. The top raises, and it was probably hand made around Cuthbert.

The small trunk may have been used for deeds or important papers.

The hoop back yellow pine chairs are English tavern chairs. They do have a very functional use for us, since they are sturdy sitting chairs.

The other four chairs of dark reddish color are partially made of chinaberry wood. They are a southern variation of the Windsor chair, handmade in southern Alabama.

The stagecoach horn was used by the driver to alert the innkeeper as to the number of passengers. (Three horn blasts indicated three passengers.)