A Historic Road Less Traveled

Old State Highway 56 passes the historic Speakman-Tallentire house and the Triple Whipple Bridge. Elderly Stephen S. Speakman, in love with a young Kentucky belle, won her agreement to marry him if he built her a magnificent house. With the help of slave labor borrowed from his bride's Kentucky home, the elegant Greek Revival-style Speakman-Tallentire house was completed in 1845. It stands on a rise near Laughery Creek and once had a view of the creek and across the Ohio River to Kentucky. The bricks used to build it were made on the premises. The house is now a private residence. Farther along stands the three-span, 302 foot Triple Whipple Bridge, built in 1878 to join Ohio and Dearborn Counties. It is the only remaining bridge of its type in the country and is named for nineteenth century bridge designer Squire Whipple, who created a special system of supports. Its historic significance earned it a place in the National Register of Historic Places, and though closed to vehicular traffic, it has been rehabilitated for pedestrian use.

Indiana · United States