The Red Rose Inn

by Michael Pillagalli

In the hustling world of real estate today, and especially in our beloved Chester County, it would make front page news to have a property today that would sell for the price of a single red rose each year to be paid as a mortgage!  But, that is exactly what happened in Penn Township in early 1742. William Penn III was deeded five thousand acres from his grandfather’s holdings and was asked to pay the family one red rose per year for the land on June 24th.  He turned around shortly thereafter and sold fifty five acres of that parcel to Samuel Cross in 1748 for twenty eight pounds.  It was Mr. Cross who had the current structure built between 1731 and 1740 and he planned to operate the building as a drover’s inn and tavern.  It is interesting that Mr. Cross built the tavern on land which he did not own until eight years later.   It took him twenty two years to get it all together as no records were issued to operate it as such until 1762.    At that point it must not have been used for any specific purpose as the records show no use of the property nor who was responsible for operating a business at the site.  In 1797, the fifty five acre parcel was sold to George Clymer, and the reason for the sale may have been the death of Mr. Cross or had he filed for bankruptcy?  It is an interesting thought that the structure sits on a major route for getting animals from Baltimore to Philadelphia for market and it was the main route for horseback, stagecoaches and work wagons to make their way from the Baltimore area to Philadelphia.  History tells us that these Inns were set up about five miles from each other as that is how far one could get herds or pack animals to distance in a day’s journey.  It also sat at a crossroads to the trail that was frequented by both the Lenni Lenape and Delaware tribes as they used this route for a way to get to their hunting grounds at the watershed dividing the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers.  Even though the records show no usage of the structure from 1740 through 1762, legends provide us with the fact that it became a meeting ground for the farmers of the region and the drovers of the herds and a spot where the Native Americans could sell or trade their pelts for gunpowder and where they all could enjoy each other’s company with good hearty food and conversations. 

The Inn was sold again in 1808, for $856.00 and a large addition was addition to the 1740 structure in 1829 as business was that good and plentiful.  Later in 1882, it sold again for $8,500.  In 1889, it was purchased by a Mr. John A. Wallace who did some renovations and remodeled it to include some areas for overnight lodging.  History tells us that the Inn operated as a Drovers Inn for 89 years to that point.  In 1927, the property was acquired by Conrad- Pyle Company and the surrounding acreage was used for the growing of roses. The company became known as The Star Rose Company. The records show that it was this activity that gave the Inn its name of The Red Rose Inn and the tradition of the annual red rose payment was restarted by the new owners again on June 24th.  During World War II, The Red Rose Inn was closed and taken over for usage by the National Fireworks Company and the Inn was used as housing for the 45 female workers for said company.  After the war, the property was acquired in 1961, by the Clanton’s who kept it until 1978, when it was sold again to John and Maryanne Bussey.  They ran the business for seven years and flipped it to Lee and Richard Covatta who ran it for many successful years in Penn Township.  In addition to the food service, lodging was again available although I am sure their clientele differed greatly from the early imbibers that frequented the Drover Inn in the mid to late 18th Century.  It was said at the time that there were two resident ghosts.  One was a small girl named Emily in 18th Century clothing carrying a doll and the other was a Native American or “Indian Joe” as he was named by those who “saw” him.  The story was that Emily was missing and later found murdered and Indian Joe was accused by the villagers and immediately hanged from the tree which existed at the crossroads corner.  The real murderer was uncovered shortly after that and found to be intoxicated in the woods.  To conceal the hanging of Indian Joe, his body was supposedly laid to rest in the basement of the Inn and thus his reason for the supposed haunting of the building. After the building had been vacant for many years, all during the current renovation work no evidence of the phantoms was reported, so maybe they found another suitable lodging in the area?

In 2011, Penn Township realized the historical importance of the area and the structure to save it after sitting idle and vacant for many years.  They purchased the property for two basic reasons. One was to save the structure and its historical integrity in the township and two was the township would have the ability to then expand and improve the old crossing roads of the drovers and the native Americans.  What one sees there today started shortly after property ownership was acquired by the township and work started in 2016, when they carefully removed all the added on segments and additions that were done to the original 1740 building and what one sees today is that original structure built by Mr. Cross in 1740. Looking back from its glory days as a well-known restaurant in the 1990’s, one would not recognize the structure of today as such careful and appropriate restoration took place.  The same goes for the interior as skilled craftsmen worked on the floors, the walls, the windows and the doors. Period style lighting was installed, and the hardware was also made to look like the original period.  One of the early pieces from the Inn which was removed from the building early on when the township purchased it was a full wall mural painted in the 1960’s by artist John Moll.  It depicts the red rose rent being offered to William Penn in the vicinity of the original 1740 tavern.  It was removed from the standing wall and rolled up and stored until 2019 when it was cleaned and recanvassed and then brought back on a twenty foot trailer bed for mounting back in its place of glory. Today the structure operates as a museum of the history of the inn and the township.