Lebanon ยท Lebanon Commercial District
The Golden Lamb
Ichabod Corwin's 1815 inn, which its 1978 National Register nomination calls the oldest inn in continuous use in Ohio; 12 presidents have visited.
- Built
- 1815Licensed as a log tavern in 1803; Ichabod Corwin built the present brick inn in 1815. A two-story section was added in 1826, a third story about 1846, a north wing about 1854 and a fourth story in 1878 (NRHP nomination).
- Architect
- Ichabod Corwin (builder)
- Type
- Inn
- Rooms
- 17
- Area
- Lebanon Commercial District
- Credentials
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; Inside a National Register historic district
The story
On December 23, 1803 the Warren County court licensed Jonas Seaman to keep ‘a house of Public Entertainment’ in Lebanon; the inn took its name from a golden-lamb signboard for travelers who could not read. Ichabod Corwin replaced the log tavern with the present brick building in 1815. Twelve U.S. presidents and writers including Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe have visited. Ohio politician Clement Vallandigham accidentally shot himself in a guest room while demonstrating how a man in a murder case could have shot himself. The Jones family leased it in 1926, and it remains owned by the Portman family, which marked 100 years of family ownership in 2026.
Good to know
- No elevator
- Address: 27 South Broadway, Lebanon, OH 45036
Sources (4)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.