Reuben Scanland was mayor of Pittsfield and a prominent attorney and judge. He supported Lincoln in the 1858 Senate race, and Lincoln stayed at this house during his visit in October 1858. A story associated with the home tells how Mrs. Scanland prepared an elaborate turkey dinner for Lincoln and her husband's political friends, but they lingered at a local drugstore where Lincoln was telling stories to a crowd of men. By the time they finally returned, the dinner was cold, and Mrs. Scanland called Lincoln "the laziest man there ever was. Good for nothing except to tell stories." The bed Lincoln slept in here is now in the Pike County Historical Society Museum at East School, 400 East Jefferson Street.