Image of Griswold Inn Sitting Room

This image of the interior of the Griswold Inn was obtained from a series of negatives converted to digital images. The Griswold Inn stood on the east side of High Street, just north of the Village Green, and was built by Ezra Griswold in 1811 to offer travelers a place to stop. Ezra operated the inn until 1816, when he passed it down to his son, George H. Griswold. The structure was later converted from a tavern and inn into a residence, where Ruth Griswold, the last of the family to occupy the building, lived. Though the Griswold Inn Historical Foundation attempted to raise funds to purchase and restore the inn to use it as the Worthington Historical Society Museum, the building was razed in 1964. Gilbert Coddington, an architect who ultimately helped the Historical Society restore the Orange Johnson House, captured this image series before the demolition of the inn.

This image of a sitting room, still in use by Ruth Griswold in the 1960's, illustrates the fact that five generations of the Griswold family called the Inn home between 1803 and 1964. The large Victorian-era Eastlake mirror is seen above a Federal style fireplace mantel from the early 1800's, likely original. A wicker rocking chair in the foreground appears to be from the early 1900's. The room's chandelier is hung with a cord traversing the ceiling, as electricity was installed a nearly a century after the building's original construction.