The Kissing House, Spring Hill

About The Kissing House

The Kissing House is a historic residence in downtown Spring Hill listed on the National Register of Historical Places. Visitors explore a Carpenter Gothic-style building constructed before 1878 by Peter Ritter, featuring distinctive vertical clapboard siding with delicate arched borders and decorative brackets supporting bargeboard-trimmed eaves. The house carries its unusual name from a remarkable late-1800s legal case: Sara Odit sued her fiancé Hugh Brown for breach of promise to marriage after learning through a Nashville newspaper that he had married another woman without her knowledge. She won the case and used her award to purchase the house. Tombstones of the Odit and Brown families remain in the nearby Spring Hill cemetery. A theatrical play titled "The House that Kisses Bought" was written about this compelling story. The residence survived the 1963 Spring Hill tornado despite being lifted from its foundation and returned intact. Located on McLemore Avenue in historic downtown Spring Hill, Tennessee, it stands as a tangible connection to a significant chapter of local history.