Taein Dongheon

Dongheon was the government office where the local magistrate conducted affairs during the Joseon Dynasty. Taein Dongheon was first built by Sin Jam, the magistrate of Taein, during the reign of King Jungjong of Joseon, and the current building was rebuilt in the 16th year of King Sunjo (1816). On the front of the building hangs a signboard inscribed with Cheongnyeongheon, meaning to govern the county clearly and peacefully. The calligraphy on the signboard was written by Kim Jo-sun, a famous literary figure and member of the powerful Andong Kim clan.
Among the remaining dongheon (local government office) buildings in Korea, it is not particularly large in scale, but it is the best-preserved in its original form, and the internal spatial composition of the building is diverse. On the south front, there is a single-row toenkan (narrow wooden veranda), behind it on the right is a daecheong (main wooden-floored hall), and on the left is an ondol (heated floor) room. Above that, to the north, there is another toenkan; the right two bays of this toenkan are a wooden floor higher than the daecheong, and the rest is an earthen floor.
When the dongheon was first built, the carpenter told the magistrate that it could be fully built for a thousand nyang, then said another thousand nyang was lacking. After that, he said yet another thousand nyang was lacking, and in the end it cost three thousand nyang. When asked why, the master carpenter said that if he had said at first that it would cost three thousand nyang, the dongheon would not have been built, so he lied in order to gain the opportunity to display his exquisite skill. According to a map of Taein-hyeon, there was a pond in front of the dongheon, and a small pond still remains today.
Nearby tourist sites include Pihyangjeong, Taein Hyanggyo, Seohyeonsaji, and the Sin Jam Monument.