Seybold Tavern, Excelsior Springs

Gypsy Heart

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Nov 29, 2005
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Seybold Tavern

In 1952 a fire burnt down a tavern about one and a half miles south of Excelsior Springs. Normally such a fire would not gain much attention, but the blaze took with it 130-year-old historical landmark---the Seybold Tavern.

When the state of Missouri was only two years old in 1821, Nellie and Louis Seybold built the tavern, molded after tile same colonial home they left in Virginia. They bought the 110 acres that surrounded the tavern from the government for a mere $2.50 per acre. Louis Seybold built their 12-room house of white oak and walnut, and installed a huge stone fireplace at one end.


The tavern became a stopover for stagecoach passengers traveling from St. Louis to Choeteau Landing (now the site of Kansas City). At one time the tavern even served as a make-shift hospital. When the Mormans were driven out of Independence they traveled to Clay County, and a few of them ended up at Seybold s tavern. Several of them became ill with what is believed to have been typhoid, and before the siege ended four of the Mormans died. Their graves still lie near the gate at the entrance of the property.


The tavern gained in popularity as word at it s hospitality and home-made cuisine spread through the state. In 1858 Governor Robert Stewart of Missouri stopped over at the tavern, and was so impressed by it and the cooking of Aunt Phronie, the black cook, that he stretched his visit into several weeks.


When the Civil War came to Clay County, one of the many battles was fought in the tavern's front yard. There were casualties on both sides, and the Confederate dead were buried in a small cemetery behind the tavern.


The Seybolds owned the tavern until 1855 when Lewis Hardwicke acquired the property. Walter Moore later became the owner, and in 1870 John Wesley Ford bought the property. It was passed on to his son John Ford, who still lived at the tavern in 1952 when the fire destroyed the beautiful bit of history that stood on the 110 acres.
Source: Greater Excelsior Springs Centennial, 1880-1980, p. 56.



http://www.exsmo.com/museum/businesses/seybold/seybold.html
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..............Tradition has it that Louis Seybold, the pro-Southern proprietor of the Seybold Tavern, allowed the Confederates to bury their dead behind his renowed halfway house. Fredericksburg merchant Jerry Isley was hired by the citizens to gather and bury the bodies of the Union dead. He hauled them in a lumber wagon ...........http://theidlehour.com/fredericksburg.html#sitemap
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http://www.kchistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/Local&CISOPTR=21325&CISOBOX=1&REC=1
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I lived at Excelsior Missouri,and I am very familar of the Seybold tavern,also there was gold coins found in the ashes after the tavern burned,and to the west of the tavern site,across the road there is a small gully in a fence line,here there was many civil wars dimes scattered when a road grader hit them long ago,

Kenjmor
 

Kenjmor said:
I lived at Excelsior Missouri,and I am very familar of the Seybold tavern,also there was gold coins found in the ashes after the tavern burned,and to the west of the tavern site,across the road there is a small gully in a fence line,here there was many civil wars dimes scattered when a road grader hit them long ago,

Kenjmor

Cool...Do you think you could take a few pics of what it looks like now.....Thanks
 

I have come to recognize gypsy as an expert on MO....a wealth of knowledge indeed from all her postings. I always dream some day I will have the time for the research and reading...hats off to you
 

Seybold tavern

This is just a little bit of what we have found there so far. The coins are the normal of what you would except. We did find a rare 3 cent piece. The winter has shut us down but spring will soon be here. Screenshot_20200207-165924_Gallery.jpg
 

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