The Story Inn

This historic Indiana country inn is one of the best persevered wooden buildings from the mid-19th century and is located in a small village that residents are working to restore to its former appearance. The inn has 18 rooms, cabins, and cottages, each filled with antique furnishings. The inn also displays the land patent from President Millard Fillmore to physician George Story in 1851 which led to the founding of the community.

George Story, a physician from Ohio, was among the first to settle in what grew to become a small village in the hilliest county of Indiana. Locals came to call the place Storyville and the town of Story was officially founded in 1851, the same year that George Story arrived after he was given 173 acres. Story built his house there in 1858 and by the 1870s, the community served as a logging village with a school, mill, and Story's medical practice. The small village's economy was tied to nearby farms and logging. The village hit its peak from 1880 to the start of the Great Depression.

During the Great Depression, about half of the community's residents left the area. In the decades that followed, the population continued to decline and there was no new construction in the town in the decades that followed. With little economic incentive, there were few efforts to update or modernize the buildings within the town of Story. In the early 1980s, two Bloomington residents bought property and invested in opening the Story Inn as a historically-themed hotel. Today, the inn's current owner is Rick Hofstetter who also works to preserve many of Indiana's landmarks in addition to offering a restaurant and live music.

About Us, Story Inn. Accessed October 21st, 2022. https://storyinn.com/about-us.

Grey, Jim. The story of Story, Indiana, Down the Road. December 1st, 2017. Accessed October 21st, 2022. https://blog.jimgrey.net/2017/12/01/the-story-of-story-indiana/.

The Story Inn, Nashville, Indiana, Haunted Rooms. Accessed October 21st, 2022. https://www.hauntedrooms.com/indiana/haunted-places/haunted-hotels/the-story-inn-nashville.

The Coolest Story in Indiana, Indy's Child. October 10th, 2019. Accessed October 21st, 2022. https://indyschild.com/the-coolest-story-in-indiana/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Story%20Inn,and%20created%20the%20Story%20Inn.%E2%80%9D.