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Silver Heart Inn & Cottages is an owner-run bed-and-breakfast at 1114 South Noland Road in Independence, Missouri, in a house built about 1856 for the businessman Napoleon Bonaparte Stone that survived the Civil War Order No. 11 burnings, was sawn in half and moved 300 feet in 1923, and became an inn only in 2013. Charles and Amy Kistler — guests of the inn for five years before they bought it — have owned it since June 2022.

Description

Silver Heart Inn & Cottages is a bed-and-breakfast in Independence, Missouri, occupying an antebellum house on South Noland Road within reach of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and the Independence Square. It offers guest rooms in the main house and two separate cottages — the Beach Cottage, with hand-painted murals, and the Wren Cottage, with English-style decoration, an iron bed and a wood-burning stove — both with full kitchens and private sitting areas.12

The inn also trades as a small event venue, hosting weddings, murder-mystery evenings and gatherings for up to 60 people outdoors and 25 indoors, with seasonal breakfast menus built on local produce.2

Unusually for a nineteenth-century house, the property is genuinely accessible. A previous owner, confined to a wheelchair after a stroke, added a concrete ramp, an electric elevator, widened doorways and a roll-in shower; the inn retains and markets those adaptations.13

Goods and services

  • Guest rooms in the 1856 main house, themed, with period furnishing12
  • Two cottages — Beach Cottage and Wren Cottage — with full kitchens, electric fireplaces, spa access1
  • Breakfast — seasonal menus using local produce, fruit-forward dishes2
  • Weddings and gatherings — up to 60 outdoors, 25 indoors2
  • Murder-mystery events2
  • Wi-Fi, flat-panel televisions, and step-free access for disabled guests1

History

The building — the Stone-Gamble mansion. The Independence businessman Napoleon Bonaparte Stone built the original house about 1856, most likely on a fortune made supplying emigrants and wagon trains heading west. It was a T-plan house of two joined wings, set in the middle of the block bounded by Main Street, what is now South Avenue, Noland Road and 23rd Street, with Stone’s fields and walnut orchards running half a mile east.3

During the Civil War the house survived The Burning carried out under General Order No. 11. It stood within a mile of the Independence town limits — the limit named in the Order — and Stone had made a public declaration of loyalty to the Union, which by the inn’s account probably saved it.3

In 1923 the owner, Judge George Jennings, saw Noland Road overtaking Main Street as the main thoroughfare, had the house split into two houses, and moved them 300 feet to face Noland. The northern half — the rear wing and side entrance of the original — is the house that is now the inn. The southern half became Jennings’s own residence, fell into disrepair, and was demolished in the early 1960s.3

Roy Gamble and his wife Avanell bought the house in 1943 and held it 45 years. Roy Gamble manufactured wooden toys sold through S. S. Kresge stores, designed an early home freezer unit, and made his money in building contracting and rental property, remodelling the house steadily. Avanell Gamble hosted civic events there. After her death in 1983 Roy Gamble married Shirley Odneal, an interior decorator, who redecorated in vivid Georgian-style colour that the inn says survives in several rooms. Roy Gamble’s stroke and the accessibility works followed.3

The business. The lodging business is a 2013 business in an 1856 house, and the two must not be conflated. Melanie and Perry Johnson bought the house in April 2012 and configured it as a bed-and-breakfast; the Silver Heart Inn opened with a ribbon-cutting on 3 April 2013.3 Charles and Amy Kistler, who had been guests of the inn for five years, bought it on 7 June 2022 and held their own ribbon-cutting in August 2022.3 The Columbia Missourian profiled the inn under Charles Kistler as innkeeper in May 2023 and reported that Independence’s planning commission had approved an application for historical-site designation, to be forwarded to the City Council.2

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Silver Heart Inn — official site, front page and structured data — asserts: address 1114 S Noland Rd, Independence, MO 64050; “four beautifully appointed rooms in our 1856 house as well as two well appointed cottages”; cottages have full kitchens, electric fireplaces and use of the spa; Wi-Fi, flat-panel televisions, and access for disabled guests; schema.org type BedAndBreakfast under the name Silver Heart Inn. Related pages: silverheartinn.com (Retrieved by curl 2026-08-14; the site returns HTTP 403 to WebFetch.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. Columbia Missourian — “Silver Heart Inn in Independence preserves its past while charting its future,” by Ava Gough, 2023-05-18 — asserts: the antebellum home was built in 1856 for Napoleon Bonaparte Stone and his family; Greek Revival architecture with original windows and a gas chandelier carrying carved glass inscriptions from Stone’s daughter Margery; Charles Kistler operates the property as innkeeper; the planning commission approved an application for historical-site designation to be forwarded to the Independence City Council; five themed bedrooms plus two cottages — Beach Cottage with hand-painted murals and a king bed, Wren Cottage with English-style decor, iron bed and wood-burning stove, both with full kitchens and private sitting areas; a “Legends of Asia” room; murder-mystery events, weddings and gatherings for up to 60 outdoors and 25 indoors; seasonal breakfast menus using local produce. Primary independent source. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  3. Silver Heart Inn — official site, “Our History” (history of the Stone-Gamble mansion) — asserts: Independence businessman Stone built the original home about 1856 (the page spells the name “Napolian Stone”); fortune likely made serving emigrants and wagon trains; original house was two wings joined in a T, mid-block between Main Street, South Avenue, Noland Road and 23rd Street, with fields and walnut orchards half a mile east; the house survived The Burning under Order Number 11, being within a mile of the Independence limits and Stone having publicly declared Union loyalty; in 1923 owner Judge George Jennings split the house in two and moved it 300 feet to face Noland Road, the northern rear-wing half becoming the inn and the southern half becoming Jennings’s residence, later demolished in the early 1960s; Roy and Avanell Gamble purchased the home in 1943 and Roy lived there 45 years, manufacturing wooden toys sold through S. S. Kresge stores, designing an early home freezer, and working in building contracting and rental property; Avanell died in 1983 and Roy married the interior decorator Shirley Odneal; after Roy’s stroke he added a concrete ramp, electric elevator, widened doorways and a roll-in shower; Melanie and Perry Johnson purchased the house in April 2012 and configured it as a bed-and-breakfast; the Silver Heart Inn opened with a ribbon-cutting on 3 April 2013; the inn was sold to Charles and Amy Kistler on 7 June 2022, after they had been guests for five years, with their own ribbon-cutting in August 2022. (Retrieved by curl 2026-08-14; page last modified 2025-03-25 per its own metadata.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

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On the record — ks.city/registry/silver-heart-inn · record updated 2026-08-14