Galt House

The Galt House is a hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, which opened in the 1830s. The current building dates back to 1972; some previous Galt Houses were burned in fires and another was demolished.

In 1834, the Galt House was opened by Colonel Ariss Throckmorton as a 60-room hotel on the northeast corner of Second and Main streets. During the next few decades, the Galt House was acclaimed as Louisville's best hotel. Many noted people stayed at the original Galt House, including Jefferson Davis, Charles Dickens, Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant.

During the Civil War, the Galt House housed meetings of Union generals. In September 1862, it was the scene of an unusual murder, when General Jefferson C. Davis (not to be confused with the other Jefferson Davis) shot General William "Bull" Nelson after a dispute. A popular, but possibly apocryphal, story says that in March 1864, Generals Grant and William Sherman met at the Galt House to plan Sherman's March to the Sea. This Galt House burned down in 1865.

Galt House in The Guns of the South
Robert E. Lee stayed at the Galt House on his official visits to Louisville in 1865. On one occasion, he was nearly assassinated by a Negro sharpshooter firing from across Second Street.