View source for Grinder's Stand

{{More sources|date=January 2025}}{{Short description|Historic inn on the Natchez Trace in Tennessee}}
'''Grinder's Stand''' was a stand, or inn, located on the [[Natchez Trace]].  A replica can be visited today at the Meriwether Lewis Park, located on the [[Natchez Trace Parkway]] in [[Lewis County, Tennessee]], south of [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], southwest of [[Columbia, Tennessee|Columbia]], and east of [[Hohenwald, Tennessee]]. This is where [[Meriwether Lewis]] died, by suicide (as suspected by his friend and colleague, [[Thomas Jefferson]]) or homicide (as suspected by his family).<ref>{{cite news| work=PBS| url=https://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/i_r/lewis.htm|title=People: Meriweather Lewis}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| author=Rollins, James| title=The Devil Colony| url=https://archive.org/details/devilcolonysigma00roll| url-access=registration|publisher=William Morrow}}</ref>

==History==
The tavern is believed to have been established in 1807 and was originally known as "Indian Line Stand". The Chickasaw had ceded the land to Tennessee in 1805. Its proprietors were [[Robert Evans Griner]] and [[Priscilla Knight Griner]].<ref>{{cite book| author=Davis, William C.|title=A Way Through the Wilderness: The Natchez Trace and the Civilization of the Southern Frontier|location=New York|publisher=Harper Collins|date= 1995|pages=32–33}}</ref>  The establishment is properly "Griner's Stand", given the proprietors. Soon after it opened, people began calling it "Grinder's Stand", and it stuck.

The original stand consisted of two rough [[log cabin]]s adjoined at right angles, with a [[dogtrot]] between them.  Both rooms had doors facing the Natchez Trace; one room also had a door facing the detached kitchen behind the stand.  A barn and stable were located on the property, although the original placements of these two buildings have not been determined.

According to tradition, Robert Griner sold [[whiskey]] to the [[Native Americans in the United States|Indians]], whose lands came within a few feet of the cabin. The proper use of the stand was to provide food and lodging to travelers passing through the Natchez Trace.

In October 1809, Meriwether Lewis was fatally shot here in a disputed manner.

In the 1930s, the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] built a replica cabin less than 20 feet from the remains of the original stand.

==See also==
*[[Grinder's Switch]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

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[[Category:Civilian Conservation Corps in Tennessee]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Lewis County, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Natchez Trace]]


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