Peter Amstutz House

Peter Amstutz House
Alternative names	Old Amstutz Homestead
General information
Address	SR 585
Town or city	Smithville, Ohio
Country	USA
Completed	1876

Also Known As Building Name

• Old Amstutz Homestead
• Orchard Hill Farm
• The Old Leisure/Lesiure Tavern

Comprehensive History

Located near the crossroads of State Route 585 and County Road 221 in Green Township, this old brick home and farmstead once housed a country tavern along the Old Portage Road. In 1831, George Lesiure (or Leisure) built a brick tavern "twice as long as it was wide, and... surmounted by a low pitched gable roof," with a large barroom (which sold only temperance drinks) and a kitchen downstairs and two rooms for travelers above stairs. Each room had a large fireplace and brick hearth, built into the ends of the house. The farm land itself provided the foundation stones of the house as well as the clay for the bricks.

By 1876, the tavern had given way to a family farmhouse owned by Peter and Sarah Burkholder Amstutz. The two-story Victorian farmhouse used bricks from the tavern in its elegant structure. The house is still standing and was designated a Pioneer House in the 1970s.

Timeline

• 1831: Tavern built by George Lesiure/Leisure
• 1876: Peter and Sarah Amstutz build the present house

Owners

• George Lesiure/Leisure
• Peter and Sarah Amstutz
• Dan Hilty Family

Newspaper articles

• 

  "Old Area Homestead," Daily Record, 30 July 1969, p.4, pt.1.

• 

  "Old Area Homestead," Daily Record, 30 July 1969, p.4, pt.2.

• 

  "Old Area Homestead," Daily Record, 30 July 1969, p.4, pt.3.