Have you ever noticed the empty lot between Rick’s of Ethridge and Ethridge Church of Christ? Did you know that one of the most well-known buildings in the county once stood on that spot?

The building in this grainy black-and-white photo stood in that now-empty lot for most of the 19th century. General Richard Allen, a veteran of the War of 1812, built a stand here along the Military Road, where weary travelers could stop and get a good meal and a place to stay the night.

Allen’s Stand was a well-known gathering point for local people, too. When Lawrence County’s first Confederate soldiers left for training in the spring of 1861, a going-away dinner was held in the field across from the Stand.

No doubt the saddest day this old house ever saw was when General Allen’s talented young son, Captain William B. Allen, was laid to rest in his early twenties in a garden on the back side of the property. William B. Allen was cut down in his prime, leading the Lawrenceburg Blues into battle at the Siege of Monterrey during the Mexican War. More than 1,000 people showed up at Allen’s Stand for his funeral.

Today, the garden-turned-cemetery is all that’s left of Allen’s Stand. The old home was demolished in the early 20th century.