About 1790, Isaiah Potter built Potts Inn (Potts Tavern) on Potts Hill in Illinois. This is a couple miles or so from the pirate stronghold of Cave-in-Rock, which was on the Ohio River. Isaiah Potts was also a partner in nearby Ohio River ferries. From the start of the inn, people began dying. People crossing from Kentucky often ended up dead at Potts Inn as did travelers o nearby roads. The most famous of the Potts family was Billy Potts who carried on the tradition of killing travelers for money and horses.
The surviving photos of Potts Inn are about 100 years old. In 1947, the pictured farmhouse replaced Potts Inn. Potts field lay behind the farmhouse. Plowing produced countless skeletons—but Potts Inn was built on a Shawnee village site.
C. T. Suddeth 
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