Photograph of Adams-Heath House

The Adams-Heath House (also known as the Adams House or Bishop-Adams-Heath House) located at 721 High Street in Worthington is depicted in this photograph taken sometime during Spring 1989. According to Frank Corbin’s A Walking Tour of Old Worthington (1969), this lot was among those originally designated in the Scioto Company’s settlement of Worthington in 1803, bordered by North, South, Morning, and Evening Streets. Although other, smaller log cabins were used on this lot before the existing structure was built ca. 1817-1818, the Adams-Heath House itself is the oldest remaining frame house in Worthington.

Colonel James Kilbourne purchased the property in 1818 and conveyed it to Demas Adams, newly married to Kilbourne’s stepdaughter, Susan Barnes, that same year. The couple used a portion of the home as a boarding house – possibly to supplement the services of the Worthington Inn, which James Kilbourne owned at that time – until they sold it to William and Charlotte Bishop in 1830 (Worthington Landmarks, Jennie and Robert McCormick, 1992). Charles Bishop would later operate the Worthington Inn (under the name “Bishop House”) and a boarding house with his second wife, Nancy; he also served alongside Rev. Uriah Heath on the board of the Worthington Female Seminary and attended the Methodist Church, where Heath was minister from 1838-1839. Heath purchased the 721 High Street property in 1855.