Bean Station was one of the first settlements in Tennessee. William Bean and Daniel Boone camped here in 1775. Indians massacred the first settler, a farmer named English. It was permanently settled by William II, Robert, George, and Jessie Bean, who were granted over 3,000 acres of land along German Creek for Revolutionary services; William II and Robert were militia captains. The Bean house, located seventy feet south, formed one corner of the fort and was built over a spring to insure water for defenders in case of siege. This was the intersection of Daniel Boone’s trail and the great war path of the Cherokees, later a crossing of the Baltimore to Nashville stage road and the Kentucky to Carolina turnpike. Bean Station became a post village and an important stopping place for travelers. Whiteside Inn was built in 1811, and Bean Station Inn, built in 1814, was the largest tavern between Washington and New Orleans. John Sevier, Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Henry Clay, and Andrew Johnson were among the notable men entertained here. During the Civil War, Bean Station and its valley were the scene of battle between the armies of Longstreet and Burnside.