First Respite on a Rugged Road

Travellers Repose was the first stage stop west of Allegheny. Andrew Yeager, son of pioneer John Yeager, built the first Travellers Repose here on the upper Greenbrier River.

Mail delivery along the length of the pike was contracted in 1847, and the new turnpike brought in wayfarers and regular stagecoach routes. The post office of Travellers Repose soon gave its name to the farming community thereabouts.

Yeager's original building was in the line of fire during the Civil War Battle of Greenbrier River, and local tradition says that it was hit by 28 cannon balls. Used as headquarters by troops stationed at Camp Bartow, the structure survived the fighting in 1861 only to be completely burned down later in the war.

Andrew's son, Peter Dilly Yeager, rebuilt the present structure on the original site, beginning in 1866. His building had 22 rooms and space for 28 horses in the barn, and operated as a stage stop and inn under different names, including the Yeager Hotel and the Greenbrier Hotel.

The Travellers Repose post office was located here and remained in active use until 1907. The town was later renamed Bartow in honor of the Civil War camp.

"This was a favorite place for Stonewall Jackson, who particularly liked the mountain trout and venison at Travellers Repose and stopped here often."
Jessie Brown Beard Powell

The front section of the house is original to the 1866 rebuilding of Travellers Repose. It was a two story L-shaped house constructed of wide native pine boards, with double sandstone fireplaces, three stairways and a wood shingle roof. Outside was a picket fence and boardwalks, with a mounting block and hitching post for the horses.

Following Peter Dilly Yeager's death, the property was bought by his son Brown Buren Beard, whose mother Eveline Yeager had grown up at the top of Allegheny. He tore down the back extension of the house and built a smaller two-story ell with a kitchen and dining room.

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Show me all markers in:  Bartow, WV  |  Pocahontas County  |  24920  |  West Virginia  |  United States of America

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