Sweet Dreams in old inns

•September 24, 2025•

by Janet Roney

We once had lunch in an ancient 1814 inn in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Inside, the light from the roaring fireplace reflected off the two-foot-wide, worn wooden plank floorboards that had acquired a beautiful golden patina from two centuries of use. We were in awe of the beauty of the place.

 Sadly, what we think is magically beautiful now was not so wonderful to those early travelers who first used it. They certainly did not fall in love with the floorboards in the place, because they probably were still full of splinters; they couldn’t be seen in the dim firelight, and travelers knew that if they were not the first to arrive, they would probably be sleeping on that floor. Beds were scarce.

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