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Self-guided Tavern Tour - West (This 30-mile tour begins and ends in Carlisle )
Men gathered at taverns for pints of beer or bowls of punch, to hear the latest news, to read the newspaper, to play cards, to socialize, and to conduct business. Unless they were traveling, women only came to taverns on special occasions. Traveling dancing masters put up at the larger taverns in town where they gave dancing lessons for a week or two and then held a ball. Traveling theater companies performed scenes from Shakespeare and the popular plays of the day. During the winter, sleighing parties brought fiddlers with them and county residents danced the night away at taverns throughout the county. For several weeks each spring breeders brought horses to taverns to be bred with local stock. The breeders made money by charging so much “per leap,” and the tavernkeepers made money selling drinks to the locals who came. The temperance movement and the coming of the railroad in the 1830s were largely responsible for the decline of the traditional tavern. There are at least fifty-four 18th and early 19th C. tavern houses remaining in Cumberland County. This tour includes eleven taverns.
Carlisle “Sign of the Turk” (137 E. High St.) Every turn of the spade in the back yard of this property yields broken crockery, bottles, and the refuse of more than 200 years of occupation. Tavernkeeper John Pollock built this house in the 1760s. The tavern was described in a 1773 newspaper ad as a 33 foot square stone house with a 25 foot square stone addition that housed a kitchen and bar room on the first floor and lodging rooms on the second. Both buildings are still standing. There was a brewery and a still in the cellar where the 18th C. stone-lined well was recently discovered. This large tavern was favored by traveling dancing masters who gave lessons and held candlelit balls here in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The house was updated c. 1870 when a mansard roof and a new cornice were added. Although the windows and doors have been altered, the original stone arches can still be seen at the window and cellar openings.
“Sign of the Eagle & Harp” (131 N. East St.) This classic 5-bay Georgian-style house with a center hall was built in 1803 by tavernkeeper Charles McManus. Note the date stone on the front of the house. McManus also built and operated a distillery at the lower end of the lot adjoining the Letort stream. This section of town was considered rough, and McManus’s rowdy Irish tavern, named the “Sign of the Eagle and Harp,” was the scene of many fights during his reign as tavernkeeper. McManus died in 1817, and the tavern and distillery were sold. One of the mantels from this house is in the museum at the Cumberland County Historical Society in Carlisle.
“Sign of General Washington” (NW corner Pomfret & S. Hanover Sts.) From 1778-1798, a colorful sign with the image of George Washington greeted patrons to this tavern. The 18th C. tavern, a two-story brick building with a one-story stone kitchen, was torn down when this three-story brick building was built in 1823. Although the windows and doors have been altered, you can still see the tops of the original brick lintels extending above some of the windows. The tavern operated as a hotel until the 1850s when it was converted to a private residence. Turn onto W. Pomfret Street and travel 3 blocks until the road ends at College Street. Turn Left onto College St. and travel 5 blocks to stop sign at T in road. Do not make a hard Right turn (Washington Lane) but turn Right onto Walnut Bottom Road (Rt. 465) You will travel 13.7 miles on the Walnut Bottom Road before turning. Walnut Bottom Rd. Because the Walnut Bottom Road was toll free, it was heavily traveled by drovers and waggoners taking their herds and goods to Philadelphia markets. It was also used by the Philadelphia to Pittsburgh mail stage. There was so much traffic on this road that by 1825 there were 15 taverns on the 19-mile stretch between Carlisle and Shippensburg. Continue on the Walnut Bottom Road. The first tavern is at 6.8 miles. “Stone Tavern” also “Cumberland Hall” (2408 Walnut Bottom Road- Right side)
Continue on the Walnut Bottom Rd. (now Rt. 174) The next tavern in on a rise at 8.7 miles “Weakley’s” (2675 Walnut Bottom Road- Right side) This two-story brick house, with attached one-story brick kitchen, was built c. 1790. It operated as a tavern from 1805-1833. The name of the tavern was changed by succeeding tavernkeepers who called it “Walnut Bottom,” “Brick Tavern,” and the “Pennsylvania Coat of Arms.” John Melish, a travel writer, stopped at this tavern for dinner in the early 1800s. His journal mentioned the lovely view of the South Mountain from this tavern, and also noted that “the view was equally pleasing in the interior of the house of a number of fine young damsels, whose rosy cheeks were an indication of a healthy country.” The next tavern is very close. Continue on the Walnut Bottom Rd. As soon as you cross the intersection of Rt. 233 you enter the village of Centerville. The next tavern is on the Right side of the road immediately after the Centerville sign at 9.2 miles. “Plough & Sheaf of Wheat” (1879 Walnut Bottom Road – Right side)
Continue slowly through the village of Centerville. The next tavern is set back from the road on the Right side at 9.5 miles “Brick Tavern in Sporting Hollow” (1805 Walnut Bottom Road – Right side) This large brick tavern was built by Samuel Beetem c. 1808. When William W. Hite applied for a license in 1823, he said that the tavern stand consisted of a “large two-story brick dwelling house and kitchen with the necessary out houses and a large and convenient stable…having been occupied as a tavern stand for several years by Samuel Beetem, Esq.” The next tavern is only .1 mile further and sits on top of the hill outside Centerville on the right. “Brick Tavern at Silver Hill” (1777 Walnut Bottom Road – Right side) 9.6 miles Henry Snyder, also known as “Black Snyder,” built this house c. 1824. The house contains four rooms on the first floor with eleven-foot ceilings. The second floor contains a ballroom. The house has eight fireplaces, each with a different mantel design. There was a blacksmith and a waggonmaker shop on the site. It was particularly well suited as a stop for waggoners, according to one tavern petitioner, because “the ground having a gentle descent either way from the house renders it more easy for waggoners to start their teams in the morning.” Continue on Walnut Bottom Rd. through the village of Walnut Bottom. At the end of the village turn Right on Water Street (at the corner of an old school that is now Trinity Fellowship Center.) This road becomes the Stoughstown Road. Travel 1.8 miles to the stop sign at the intersection of Rt. 11. The “Sign of the Indian King” tavern is directly in front of you. The tavern is now the Field and Pine B & B. “Sign of the Indian King” (2155 Ritner Highway) This tavern sits on a hill in the village of Stoughstown. According to an 1879 Cumberland County history “Stoughstown took its name from Mr. John Stough who kept a tavern in this place for many years…Before railroads and canals were in use in this state, his house did a business quite sufficient to have made Mr. Stough wealthy, had his charges been equal to the average of those of the hotel keepers of the present day. The stages and wagons of that day patronized him liberally; his house being considered one of the best, in point of accommodations and generous fare along the road.” Nicholas Stough, John’s father, purchased the land and kept the tavern from 1802 until his death in 1813. John Stough ran the tavern from 1813-1839. The earliest portion of the tavern is the section to the right. The portion to the left, added in 1813 after Nicholas Stough’s death, included a ballroom on the second floor. A man who grew up in the area mentioned the tavern in his reminiscences. “There used to come to Stoughstown sleighing parties from Newville and they brought along Old Black Joe to play for their dancing upstairs. Sometimes others would go to another room and play cards and take a little “suthen” to brace their nerves and sometimes I thought they got a little tight.” The current owners operate the former tavern as the Field and Pine B & B. Ritner Highway (Rt. 11) Renamed for Cumberland County resident Gov. Joseph Ritner, the Ritner Highway, Rt. 11 was called the Harrisburg/Chambersburg Pike in the 19th C. and the Mount Rock Road and the Great Road in the 18th C. Turn Right onto Rt. 11. Travel 3 miles to “Dunlap’s Tavern,” the large brick house on the Left side of the road at the intersection of Rt. 233. “Dunlap’s Tavern” (3301 Ritner Highway at Rt. 233 – Left side) The Dunlap’s, first James and then John, kept this tavern from 1826-1835. The brick tavern was built in two sections. The earliest section is the three-bay section on the east end. The interior retains its original stairs, fireplaces, mantels, chair rail, molding and hardware. There is a detached bake oven near the west end of the building. Continue on Rt. 11 towards Carlisle. Travel 3 miles to the “Mount Rock Tavern” (on the Left side of the road just past Hill St.) “Mount Rock Tavern” (2799 Ritner Highway – Left side) The Mount Rock tavern site is the oldest rural tavern stand in western Cumberland County. Robert Dunning claimed the property in the spring of 1735. When the next owner, John Miller, advertised to rent the tavern stand in 1770, he claimed that the tavern was “antient.” The Mount Rock Tavern was mentioned in numerous travelers' journals. The earliest reference is from a band of Moravians who were traveling through the county in 1753. They preferred to stay here instead of with the Irish in Carlisle. In 1759, Charles Frederick Post, a Moravian missionary, stayed at Mt. Rock because Shippensburg, 16 miles away, was overflowing with people fleeing from the Indians. In 1794, George Washington left Carlisle with 14,000 troops headed for western Pennsylvania to quell the Whiskey Rebellion. Many of his troops camped at Mt. Rock. After they left, the tavernkeeper submitted a bill for clothing, spurs, and a pistol that the soldiers had taken with them. In 1798, the property was put up for sale. It included 500 acres of limestone land, the stone tavern, a log house and log kitchen, and a still house and spring house “on a large, never failing Limestone Spring.” By 1833, the stone tavern had been replaced by this brick house. It continued to serve as a tavern and then a store for many years. The log house on this site belonged to a relative of the present owners who moved it here from the Newburg area. The stone mile marker in the side yard is one of only two that survive along this road. It marks 7 miles to Carlisle and 14 miles to Shippensburg. Follow Rt. 11 (Ritner Highway) for 7 miles back to Carlisle. The tour ends there. Spend the night in a tavern. There are two taverns in Cumberland County that are now B&B’s, and you may wish to stay in one of them. Dine in a tavern. The Boiling Springs Tavern is the only 19th C. tavern in the county that is still operating as a tavern. It is open Tuesdays through Saturdays for lunch and dinner. |
Although the main purpose of a tavern was to provide food and lodging for “man and beast,” the tavern also served as a social and civic center for local residents. 
The Cumberland Hall tavern was a landmark on the Walnut Bottom Road. It was built in 1788 by James Moore and operated as a tavern for 97 years. Fortescue Cuming stopped here on his walking tour to Pittsburgh in 1807 and noted in his travel journal: “At eleven o’clock [January 25] I stopt and breakfasted at a large tavern on the right, seven miles from Carlisle. I got coffee, bread and butter, eggs and excellent honey in the comb, for which I was charged only 19 cents. My landlord presented me with one of the largest and finest apples I had ever seen: it was the produce of his own orchard, where he had several trees of the same species, raised by himself from the pippin, and neither grafted or budded. He had the manners of a New Englandman, being desirous both of receiving and communicating information, but I soon gathered from him that he was a native of that part of Pennsylvania. On my entrance he had laid down a book, which taking up afterwards, I found to be a volume of Robertson’s Charles V.” 
Benjamin Smith built this house in 1803 and kept the tavern until 1833. The tavern contained three rooms on each floor with beaded board walls and an enclosed stair. A cooking fireplace was in the cellar. The house is still owned by the family of the original tavernkeeper.
