The oldest building in Chester has been welcoming travelers since 1887, and it still looks the part. Colonel Jacob Yoes - U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Arkansas - raised this 9,600 square foot landmark in 1887. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974, and five years of restoration brought it forward without erasing it.
More than forty original double-hung sash windows remain in place, as does the original 1887 merchandise shelving. ELEVEN ROOMS, NO TWO ALIKE. Every room carries its own theme, including two luxury suites. One suite adds a kitchenette and an expansive bath with both a clawfoot tub and a shower.
Seven showers, nine toilets and an additional tub serve the house. THE MERCANTILE & APOTHECARY. The on-site shop is part retail, part gathering place, with a stage for live music and a large seating area - an experience guests remember rather than a gift counter.
THE LOWER LEVEL. A commercial kitchen, a spacious dining hall and a wood-burning stove make group service genuinely workable. This is where weddings, retreats and reunions are fed. THE SYSTEMS. New roof. Insulated walls. Updated HVAC with mini-splits.
Modern electrical, hot water heaters, and dehumidifiers integrated into the flooring. The romance is 1887; the mechanicals are not. THE GROUNDS. A large patio, gardens, natural fencing and a stream crossed by a covered bridge. Ample parking and RV hookups.
Roughly a quarter acre of open ground sits ready for an outdoor ceremony lawn and has never been developed as one. TWO WAYS TO RUN IT. Rooms book nightly as a bed and breakfast through the inn's direct site and major travel platforms, supported by an established channel manager.
The entire property also rents as a single venue - a whole-property buyout for a wedding weekend, reunion, corporate retreat or festival, and the highest-value booking an eleven-room inn can sell. THE TRACK RECORD. Weddings, festivals, reunions, murder mystery weekends, train excursions and interactive theater have all been hosted here.
THE LOCATION. Just over half a mile from I-49 and thirty minutes from both Fort Smith and Fayetteville, surrounded by the Ozarks. Northwest Arkansas is a large, well-funded wedding market with very little historic venue inventory. For an innkeeper, an event-venue operator, or a preservation buyer, this is a certified piece of Arkansas history that already works as a business.
