10/10/2026
No area of Warren County has seen more history and been so well-preserved as the historic farms along Beech Bend Road and Garvin Lane.
Available records indicate the Ennis family—original owners of Seeley Shoals on Beech Bend Road—once owned the majority if not all of the peninsula, operating an early ferry in the area. Later, names including Rabold, Garvin, and VanMeter made this area their home, constructing gracious log and brick residences on their properties. While mostly gone today, these houses were among the finest ever built in the county.
The legends of “The Bend” families are many. One of the most interesting stories to have occurred there, however, surely relates to the long-lost “Stoney Lonesome.” Mary Hobson Beard wrote during the Civil War, “Colonel E.L. Motley [USA] . . . held in custody a Southern spy [CSA], who had been sentenced to be shot.” By contrivance of multiple Confederate sympathizers, the spy escaped. He thence made his way to Stoney Lonesome in The Bend, then owned by the Webb family, who unwittingly helped the spy escape capture.
Despite the destruction of war, the farms throughout the neighborhood retained their reputation for hospitality into the modern era. The gracious, tree-lined roads are testament to the great care and investment of multiple families throughout the years.
History teaches us several lessons, including that time brings change. After many decades in the Garvin and Deputy families, one section of this hallowed ground is set to be auctioned. We look forward to meeting this special place’s new custodian, who we know will love the land as much as their predecessors. RNR.
Pictured—(1-2) the tree-lined Garvin Lane and Beech Bend Road; (3) closeup of the D. G. Beers 1877 Map showing Rabold, Garvin, and VanMeter farms.
