Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.djvu/67

36 COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES OLD INNS

The history of Pennsylvania shows that the taverns of this State were many and good, especially after the Revolution. These taverns or inns were generally kept by the most prominent citizen of the town and were not simply drinking places, but the center of social life for the inhabitants. The better class of taverns usually bad a parlor for the women, with an open fireplace, from which (he roaring fire cast grateful warmth and cheerful illumination. Most of these parlors were well furnished and served as a place of resort for the family of the innkeeper as well as the traveler's wife or daughter.

The taproom was usually the largest room of the inn, had a bar, a great fireplace, and was furnished with wooden benches and tables. Often there was a rude writing desk for the accommodation of the early traveling salesman or lawyer. One of the furnishings of the fireplace was a pair of smoking tongs, to pull a coal of fire from the embers for the pipes of the habitues. Of the drinks that were served here and the meals partaken much has been written by others, so we will pass over that part and give a brief list of the prominent taverns or inns of Columbia and Montour counties.

One of the first inns was that of Frederick Hill, who built on the site of Fort Jenkins, east of Bloomsburg on the road to Berwick. He and his son ran it for many years. When the stagecoaches came into constant use in 1799 Abram Miller built the "Half-Way House," where horses were changed on the journey between the two towns.

Probably the oldest tavern on the south side of the Susquehanna was the Red Tavern, built in 1804 by John Rhodenberger on the crest of Locust mountain. For almost a decade he catered to the immense traffic along the old Reading road. An inn still stands on the site in 1914. more than a hundred years later. Another inn was built about the same time at the foot of Buck mountain on the other Reading road, by Adam Michael.

When this Reading road was in its high tide of prosperity there were two inns located on it that were famous all over this section. One was the hostelry of John Yeager, at Slabtown. and the other Casper Rhoads' tavern, at Rhoadstown.

An inn stood on the road from Bloomsburg to Danville at the spot now called Grovania (then bearing the title of Ridgeville), but the name of the proprietor has passed away with the building. In 1838, when the coaches ran to every point out of Danville, there were four inns at Washingtonville, all of which did a rushing business.

Probably the most interesting of the old inns now remaining in this part of the State is the one from which the village of White Hall gained its name. The first inn here was the Red Horse Inn, built in 1810 by Andrew Schooley, but it was razed some years later to make way for a storeroom. White Hall Inn was built in 1818 by Capt. John F. Derr, and rebuilt in 1849 by Ferdinand Ritter, who had the ambition to make it a famous resort for travelers. It is probably the most elaborately carved building in this section of Pennsylvania, the work being done by Samuel Brugler of Jerseytown. Over the wide porch is a panel of some length, depicting an eagle holding two American flags and standing upon two cannon. Above the door is a large piece of scrollwork, while on each side are fantastic animal heads. The panels of the door are also hand-carved, as arc also the capitals of the fine Corinthian columns. When in its prime, and with a coat of pure white paint upon it. this inn must have presented an imposing appearance to the arriving traveler, even in its last days of decay and neglect it ins an impressive dignity that makes it overshadow the more modern structures around it. The well from which many a traveler watered his weary horse is still in use by the side of the road in front of the old hotel, which is now owned and occupied by John Q. McWilliams.

In the larger towns there were many inns of more or less repute, chief among them being the Cross Keys and Golden Lamb, at Berwick; the Forks Inn and Ciambcrlain's Hotel, at Bloomsburg: the Susquehanna House, still standing at Catawissa; and the Ferry Tavern, the Jackson Tavern, the Cross Keys Inn, and the Rising Sun Inn. at Danville.

POSTRIDERS—POST OFFICES

Before the establishment of post offices and mail routes the public had to depend on the casual traveler to communicate in writing with friends and relatives in other parts of the State. The first postriders were men who embarked in the carrying of mail for their own gain, and many different rates were charged. according to distance and condition of the roads. In 1773 Hugh Finlay was made postal surveyor by the English government over the territory from Canada to Florida,