THE BUXTON INN
Granville, Ohio was settled by sturdy New Englanders from Granville, Massachusetts and Granby, Connecticut who planned for a New England-type village with churches for their spiritual needs and schools to educate their children. The migrating families left their homes in early September 1805 and arrived at the surveyed site with oxen-drawn wagons containing all their possessions in early November. Log cabins were built for housing and businesses started taking root. Denison University was founded in 1831 and Granville was formally incorporated as a village in 1832.
In 1812, Orrin Granger, a pioneer from Granville, Massachusetts, built “The Tavern” on land that was purchased in 1806. That tavern, now known as “The Buxton Inn” has been operated continuously since that date in 1812. It was long and typical of the times – early American. It had a ballroom, a stagecoach court, a dining room … all the fixings demanded by society in 1812.
The Inn operated as Granville’s first post office, and as a stagecoach stop on the line between Columbus and Newark. The coach drivers were housed in the original cellar with its hewn beams, stone fireplace, and stone walls. The cellar today still carries the feeling of those early years when the drivers cooked their meals in the great open fireplace and slept there on beds of straw.
Orrin Granger was a friend and close acquaintance of General (and later President) William H. Harrison, who was the first of three presidents and one of many “celebrities” who would patronize the Buxton. An early history book recounts that in a display of cheerful bravado, Harrison rode his horse up the courtyard steps into the Buxton’s ballroom where a party was underway.
Time and the elements had taken their toll on the structure by the beginning of the 1970’s. The Buxton Inn building had fallen on tough times and there was talk of razing the old structure to create parking. Granville preservationist Robbins Hunter discussed the prospect of saving the inn with friends Orville and Audrey Orr. After the Orrs shared their restoration plans with Nell Schoeller, she agreed to sell the Inn. The Orr’s were the Inn’s caretakers until the end of 2014. In December 2014 a partnership group purchased The Buxton Inn. The group is led by Robert Schilling who has been preserving central Ohio’s architectural history since the early 1980’s.
FAMILY OWNED AND MANAGED
Robert Schilling and his family purchased the Buxton Inn from Orville and Audrey Orr in 2014. Their goal was to restore the restaurant and Inn to it’s original glory providing the local community and regional traveler with a welcoming destination.