City Directories and History: “The J. H. Coleman house which stands at the crossroad marking the earliest Cross Hill is an interesting building for historians; it was used as an inn and stagecoach stop. It is said that a party of British officers on their way to Star Fort at Ninety Six during the Revolutionary War sought refuge in the inn at the time of a hurricane in the area.
The kitchen, now attached, was separate from the original house. Parts of a 500-yard tunnel under the house and extending under the present Highway 39 have been rediscovered in recent years. Legend says that valuables were hidden in the tunnel during the mid 1860’s.
With the addition of a pump, the rocked well is still in use. Oldsters say they have always been told that President Davis made a brief stop at the inn and while there watered his horse. Another spot in Cross Hill claims this historic honor, and most likely both places are entitled to make the claim. The inn was on the route leading to a likely crossing on the Saluda River.
The inn was conveniently located, for it rested on a ridge of the Continental Divide marking the first road from Saluda River at Chappell practically to the county courthouse. The Indians first laid out the road on the ridge. Traders and travelers followed this same route. Diagonally across from the inn was a general store and post office.
Benton Fuller was the inn proprietor in the 1890’s. He was an ancestor of the Cross Hill Dials. At the turn of the century the property was bought by Henry Coleman and used as a private home. It was passed on to James H. Coleman, and recently was bought by Otis Beck.”
Information from: The Laurens County Sketchbook, Author – J.S. Bolick, 1973
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