The Doaksville Hotel

The Doaksville Hotel. . The public house is owned by Col. David Folsom one of the principal men in the Choctaw Nation. He keeps an excellent house on strictly temperance principles. He also owns the blacksmith shop. Rev. P.P. Brown, 1847 , Hotels during the 1800s in rural communities such as Doaksville were more like the bed-and-breakfasts of today. Residents in the hotel probably slept on beds in one or two semi private rooms upstairs. Meals would have been served downstairs in the innkeeper's kitchen or dining room. , During the 1840s Colonel David Folsom operated a public house or hotel at Doaksville. Folsom, a chief of the Choctaw Nation, signed the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek that provided for Choctaw removal to the Indian Territory, and led a large number of Choctaws to resettle in the vicinity of Fort Towson. He died in 1847 and is buried in the Doaksville cemetery. , The location of Folsom's public house is uncertain, but it may have been here. Local tradition has referred to the building at this site as the Doaksville Hotel. Excavations in this area in 1997 exposed the remains of a relatively large building and artifacts confirming this as the site of a hotel. This building at this location was 41 feet in length, and most likely had two stories. It was probably constructed of logs. , Remnants of this building consist of the foundations of two limestone fireplaces and the collapsed limestone chimney that once graced the hotel's west end. The building itself rested on piers consisting of stacked limestone rocks. The large sandstone block still visible is reportedly the hotel's front step, presumably used for stepping onto a porch. , Artifacts in this area included many fragments of household items such as plates, bowls, and cups, and also fragments of glass windows and nails used in construction of the building. Two fragments of plates made by the Homer Laughlin Company, and marked "HOTEL" help confirm this as the hotel site. , Captions , The hotel building was similar to this structure. , Stone foundation pier , Colonel David Folsom owner of a Doaksville hotel. , These artifacts were found during excavations of the hotel.