Edward Edison Smith, born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, arrived in Muskingum County about the same time as his neighbor Uzal Headley. A farmer, he built a log house near this site and, after the National Road reached Zanesville in 1829, began building a seven-room sandstone tavern, the right half of the present building, which he completed in 1830. The sandstone was quarried from a nearby cliff, leading to the house sometimes being called Cliff Rock House. While the nearby Headley Inn served as an inn and tavern, the Smith House more often offered hospitality to drovers driving livestock to market and teamsters hauling cargo in Conestoga wagons. It became a popular stopover for travelers on the National Road, and in the 1850’s Smith recognized the need for more space. In 1860 his son Alexander completed an addition against the west wall of the original house, doubling its size to 16 rooms. When railroads became the preferred transportation, the Smith House stopped functioning as an inn and eventually became the private residence of E.B. and Gladys Smith Howard, Edward Smith’s great-granddaughter. Through the 20th century and the rise of the automobile and highway improvements, the Smith House and the neighboring Headley Inn endured as historic landmarks along America’s first federal highway.