Skinner Tavern

Skinner Tavern
Location 13361 Upper Strasburg Rd., Letterkenny Township, Pennsylvania
Coordinates 40°4′7″N 77°45′53″W / 40.06861°N 77.76472°W / 40.06861; -77.76472Coordinates: 40°4′7″N 77°45′53″W / 40.06861°N 77.76472°W / 40.06861; -77.76472
Area less than one acre
Built 1788-1794, 1837-1850
Architectural style Georgian, Mid 19th Century Revival
NRHP Reference # 05000757[1]
Added to NRHP July 27, 2005

Skinner Tavern, also known as Skinner's Inn, Halfway Hotel, Western Inn, and Geyer Hotel, is a historic inn and tavern located at Letterkenny Township in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. The original section was built between 1788 and 1794, and is a 2 1/2-story, three bay, stone building in the Georgian-style with a five bay 2 1/2-story, brick addition built between 1837 and 1850. The sections are unified by a gable roof. The building measures 70 feet, 6 inches, deep and 27 feet, 6 inches, wide. It housed a general store and post office from 1888 to 1909, when it was converted to a private residence.[2]

In 1788, John Skinner, Sr. was awarded the contract to build the Three Mountain Road from the area now called Upper Strasburg to Burnt Cabins, completing the road about 1790. The original stone tavern was built by John Skinner, Sr., likely in 1788. A little later he built a second tavern, also called Skinners, immediately to the south. By 1794 he had deeded the original tavern to his son George and deeded the second tavern to John, Jr.[2]

Sometime after October 21, 1794, President George Washington stayed at or travelled past "Skinners", while returning from Bedford to Philadelphia during the Whiskey Rebellion. As he wrote to Alexander Hamilton from Wright's Ferry on October 26, ""thus far I have proceeded without accident to man, horse or Carriage, altho' the latter has had wherewith to try its goodness; especially in ascending the North Mountain from Skinners by a wrong road."[2][3]

Before 1800, the Three Mountain Road became an important part of the main road from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, and thus an important path for travelers and settlers going west, and farmers bringing their produce east. During the "drover's era", which lasted until about 1850, large numbers of cattle and sheep moved east along the road and taverns were located about a mile apart on it.[2]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Note: This includes Jo G. Treat (September 2004). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Skinner Tavern" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-02-04.
  3. ↑ (October 1794) The Diaries of George Washington. Vol. 6. Donald Jackson, and Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Papers of George Washington. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1979. The George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799. p. 197. Retrieved 9 July 2014.


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