The Inn Where Stagecoaches Changed Horses and Meals Were Timed by a Horn

In the early 1860s, two stagecoach lines operated through Shelby. One ran from Spartanburg to Morganton, and the other from Rutherfordton to Lincolnton and Salisbury. Martin Roberts and his wife, Drusilla, together with Mr. and Mrs. Ansel Hardin, operated an inn or hostelry at the corner of Warren and South Washington streets, where Loy’s Men’s Shop later stood.

Behind the inn, on the site later occupied by the Royster buildings, were the blacksmith forge and the stables where the horses were kept. Each of the stagecoach lines changed horses at this inn, and the coaches waited there while passengers ate.

Mamie Jones wrote that it was the custom for the driver of the stage from Rutherfordton to blow his horn when he reached a certain point between Broad River and Shelby. He gave as many toots on the horn as there were passengers for dinner. This signal gave the Negro servants time to get fresh horses ready to be hitched to the stagecoach and enabled the cooks to have dinner prepared for the arriving passengers.

Source: Mamie Jones.