This rare example of a still-functioning courthouse tavern was established in 1881, shortly after the courthouse next door was completed. The mid-nineteenth-century brick building was originally a two-story house with rudimentary Greek Revival details typical of its time and type. A third story added in the early twentieth century provided additional lodging and gives the building a pronounced vertical appearance. The two-tiered front porch with decorative sawn trim was added at the same time. Unobtrusive rear additions are part of the evolutionary process of the building's continuing function as an inn and restaurant.