The Bedingfield Inn was an important stage stop on the Charleston-Atlanta-New Orleans stage road of the 1830s-1850s.
A state historic marker at the Bedingfield Inn (Now a local history museum) reads as follows:
"BEDINGFIELD INN
The Bedingfield Inn or Tavern was constructed on this site in 1836 by Dr. Bryan N. Bedingfield as a family residence and stagecoach stop. It was a center for commercial and community activities and a one-day´s travel from Columbus, Fort Gaines, Americus, and Eufaula, Alabama. Also known as the "Harrell House," "Cuba House" and "Ard House," it continued as a hotel or boarding house into the 1930s. In 1965, it was purchased by the Stewart County Historical Commission and restored as an 1840 house museum."
From the Encyclopedia of Georgia: (
visit link)
"Stewart County
Original entry by Matthew M. Moye, Lumpkin, 07/14/2006
Stewart County, created by the state legislature in 1830, was named for Daniel Stewart, an Indian fighter, Revolutionary War (1775-83) veteran, and the great-grandfather of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt.
Rich in historic, natural, archaeological, architectural, and cultural resources, Stewart County is nevertheless poor in wealth. To reconcile this disparity, county leaders in 1965 began forging a new economy in tourism. This effort is emerging today as a major alternative to the traditional economies of peanuts, cotton, and pine trees. At the zenith of the county's prosperity in 1850, Stewart ranked as the tenth most populous in Georgia. By 2003 it was the state's ninth least populous county. According to the 2010 U.S. census, the population was 6,058, an increase from the 2000 population of 5,252.
Early History
Thousands of years ago Native Americans recognized the many strategic advantages of the land known today as Stewart County. The Mississippian Culture placed two major mound systems, known today as the Rood Mounds and Singer-Moye Mounds, here during the Mississippian middle period (A.D. 1100-1350).
Located along the fall line, Stewart County's entire western border is composed of the Chattahoochee River and the Alabama state line. Only about twenty miles downriver from Columbus (the northerly point of large-craft navigation), Stewart County traditionally provided a link between the Piedmont region of Georgia and the Gulf of Mexico.
. . .
The treaty that wrested west Georgia from Native Americans ended in conflict. By 1836 the remaining Creek Indians began ambushing homes and communities in desperation. The settlers called on Governor William Schley for protection. Schley sent state militia volunteers from Gwinnett County to establish three local forts—Ingersoll, Jones, and McCreary. On May 15, 1836, the river settlement of Roanoke was burned by a reported 300 Indians. On June 9 the Battle of Shepherd's Plantation marked an end to skirmishes in the county and, essentially, in the state.
A Brief Prosperity
The county population exploded from 1836 to 1850. Settlers poured in, mainly from other fall line counties, especially Jones, Washington, and Wilkes. Stewart soon became one of Georgia's top-three cotton producers (more than 7.6 million pounds in 1850). Lumpkin, in turn, served as the area's center of commerce and stagecoach routings.
By the 1850s, however, signs of decline began to manifest. Rail construction—connecting Savannah to west Georgia's cotton producers—passed north and south of the county but not through it. It would be 1885 before a rail finally entered Stewart, leading to the incorporation of Richland in 1889.. . ."