The prominent three-story brick building featured numerous dormer windows and an inviting large porch across the entrance. The hotel contained 34 rooms of which 26 were guest rooms on the second and third floors. It was constructed of the finest materials available and tastefully decorated in Victorian design. Kintner built the hotel to replace the family’s less pretentious “Kintner House” which b
urned in a fire devastating the entire block in 1871. That popular establishment had housed lawyers, judges, and other notables connected with the proceedings of the Harrison County Court. It was also in “that” Kintner House that the Confederate General John Hunt Morgan made his headquarters during the Civil War when he captured Corydon in July 9, 1863. During its colorful history, the Kintner House was also occupied by a confederate soldier and by Abraham Lincoln’s uncle, Josiah Lincoln, who made Harrison County his home and is buried in Blue River Township. After Jacob’s death in 1880, his only living daughter, Miss Sallie Kintner, became the new owner. This pretty young woman married Major William T. Jones in 1881 in a lavish ceremony under an arch in the parlor of the Kintner House. Within a year of marriage, Mr. Jones, a prominent attorney, was killed in an accident. Miss Sallie, as she was affectionately known, remained a widow and the Innkeeper of the Kintner House until her health failed in 1922 and she closed the Inn to the public. It was downhill after that with a variety of tenants. Restoration was a monumental task for the present owners. They removed concrete addition, replaced the old front porch and tuckpointed the old brick where necessary. All interior and exterior work was done according to federal standards and the Inn is now on the National Register of Historic Places. There are now 15 guest rooms, each with a private bath. Each room is individually decorated with different drapes, wallpaper, and furniture. The rooms are each named after significant people and events from Corydon’s past. The first two floors are furnished with Victorian furniture, while the third reflects country theme. Where possible, the original floors have been restored. Room floors show the original square-headed nails that were handmade, one at a time, by blacksmiths. The first and second floor hallways gave the owners a pleasant surprise. When the carpenters peeled away the carpeting, two layers of vinyl, two layers of plywood and several coats of paint they found that the original floors were patterned with alternating boards of light chestnut and dark walnut woods. The balusters supporting the handrail of the sweeping staircase reveal the same pattern and intricately carved light and dark woods. Although the building takes you back to a more elegant and quiet time, modern amenities such as sprinkler systems, smoke alarms, private baths, air conditioning, phones, color cable TVs, VCRs, and five rooms with gas log fireplaces help us to earn the slogan, “Hideaway for Romantics”. In 2002 & 2003 the Kintner House Inn was voted Indiana’s Best Bed & Breakfast by readers of Electric Consumer and by AAA members in Home & Away Magazine. It has also been featured in the summer 2003 issue of Inn Traveler Magazine.
