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Clarysville Inn and Old National Road Bridge - 1875.
The Clarysville Inn was built in 1805 and was most popular with travellers along the National Road.
During the Civil War it formed the nucleus of a hospital, as conditions in the hospitals in Cumberland in the summer were unbearable. Constructing a hospital in the mountains 1000 feet higher than Cumberland was intended to provide a more hygienic situation. Brigade Surgeon Carpenter reported that the hospitals at Clarysville:
"are admirably located at a point sufficiently near for comfortable transportation, and sufficiently distant to enjoy all the advantages of a pure atmosphere. The seclusion of the position is such as to allow the convalescent abundant liberty for suitable exercise in the open air, and its purity produces the most admirable tonic effect upon the enfeebled sick. The supply of water is abundant and its quality excellent.
The accommodations are ample for the number now there, but should be increased by the erection of two or more buildings, so as to allow for the transfer of the great majority of the sick from Cumberland, leaving only a sufficient hospital here for sudden emergencies and for patients unfit for removal.
The sanitary conditions are well satisfied at Clarysville. Brig. Surgeon Oliver is reducing every department of his charge, as rapidly as his means will allow, to system and efficient working condition." (Harold Scott, page 12).