The Old Stone House Along the Oregon Trail in Tecumseh is now a bed-and-breakfast, but it is also known as the Eli Hopkins House in recognition of its original owner.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Old Stone House Along the Oregon Trail in Tecumseh is now a bed-and-breakfast, but it is also known as the Eli Hopkins House in recognition of its original owner.

“I’d like to think Eli Hopkins would still recognize the place if he saw it today,” says Alan Shirrell, homeowner and innkeeper, with his wife, Sabra, of the Old Stone House.

Hopkins came to Kansas from Tennessee and built the home as part of his family’s working farm in the 1860s. Alan Shirrell, a retired history buff and member of the Lecompton Reenactors, has been intent on maintaining the original character of the home.

Sabra Shirrell is an avid antique hunter who treasures many of her great-great-grandmother’s relics that complement the home’s décor. The couple share an avid fondness and fierce protection for historic properties.

A primitive grandfather clock with wooden dowel construction adorns the foyer, and a bachelor’s chest dating from the 1700s serves as a coffee table in the formal parlor. But the showstopper is the 1903 “modern” addition to the home, now serving as a dining room and featuring a possum-bellied cabinet, vintage dough box, massive wooden table and stained-glass, stylized pineapple window.

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