The Little End of Nothing
•October 22, 2025•

by Janet Roney

Traveling across frontier central Illinois was not an easy task, whether in a group of wagons, on a stagecoach, or by horseback. It was uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous. Since inns like Lovington’s Black Horse Tavern were scarce, travelers often found refuge with pioneer families in isolated cabins to avoid camping out on the open prairie.

Travelers never knew what to expect when stopping at an isolated cabin. My great-great-grandfather described his experience in his journal when he spent the night at an isolated cabin in southern Illinois in 1819. He and his companion had not seen a house since breakfast. It was after sundown, and they were desperate to find a place to stay. “I was at the door but for a short time, but saw enough to satisfy myself we had drifted to the little end of nothing.. The housewife was sitting near a little fire, her dress very dirty, a child on her lap...and in her mouth was a corncob pipe. She looked happy.”

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