The Seven Mile House was situated in the extreme northeast corner of
GrotonTownship,
Erie County, Ohio, along the old
Columbus-Sandusky Pike, close to the intersection of
Mason Road and Route 4. John Powell built the Seven Mile House about 1831. This early hotel got its name from its location, which was seven miles south of the city of
Sandusky. An early stage coach route passed by the building. During the time of the
Underground Railroad, fugitive slaves were transported from the old Omar Tavern in
SenecaCounty to the Seven Mile House, on their way to Lake Erie, where they could cross over the lake to freedom in
Canada. In his memoirs, detective John Wilson Murray wrote that
Charles H. Cole met with fellow conspirators at the Seven Mile House, to make plans for an attempt to free Confederate prisoners from the prison camp at Johnson's
Island. In 1870 the house hosted a United States Post Office.
According to an article in the issue of the March 4, 1899 issue of the
Sandusky Star, Charles Linder operated a butcher shop and saloon in the building. Three of the Linder children came down with smallpox in March of 1899.
This advertisement for dancing at the Seven Mile House appeared in the
Sandusky Star Journal on December 3, 1920. The Seven Mile House served as a tavern in the same location for a number of years.
A bookstore has recently occupied the intersection near the site of the old Seven Mile House. When you travel by automobile from
Sanduskyto
Columbus, you will drive by the spot where weary travelers once found rest and food in years gone by.
