Posta del Chuy, Historic inn and cultural monument in Cerro Largo Department, Uruguay

Posta del Chuy is a stone building raised in 1855 by two Basque masons named Etcheverry, 12 km from Melo in Cerro Largo. Its sandstone blocks were laid without mortar, a technique also used on the bridge with embrasures that gives access to the site. Vehicles are no longer allowed on the bridge.

Built in 1855 by two Basque stonemasons surnamed Etcheverry, the inn served travellers on the diligence route from Melo to Villa Artigas, now Río Branco. A toll was charged at the site for crossing the bridge over the Chuy del Tacuarí stream, the second public works concession granted in Uruguay after the Puente Castells.

The building reflects how rural communities in 19th-century Uruguay depended on way stations to connect distant settlements. Visitors can sense the role this place once played as a gathering point where travelers met and rested during their journeys.

The inn stands 12 km from Melo, in Cerro Largo Department, reached by road toward the Chuy del Tacuarí stream. Vehicles are no longer allowed to cross the stone bridge with its embrasures, so the crossing is made on foot. The building is a National Historic Monument.

The sandstone blocks were laid without mortar, a technique also used on the bridge with loopholes that gives access to the site. Vehicles are no longer allowed to cross that bridge, so visitors approach the stonework on foot.