The York Valley Inn once stood at 2805 E. Market Street near York in what is now Springettsbury Township (part of Spring Garden Township during the American Civil War). This photograph from the archives of the Library of Congress shows the stone structure in the middle of the 20th century. It was a popular resting spot for nearly two centuries, providing food, drink, and refreshment for weary travelers along the York-Wrightsville Turnpike (later the Lincoln Highway / Route 462 / Market Street).

Constructed of local field stone in the early 18th century, the York Valley Inn was a well known landmark in the York area. An English Quaker settler named John Griest originally built a two-story square limestone blockhouse in 1738 for protection against marauding Indians. It formed the basis for what became the York Inn. For part of the time, the building was known as the Beard Tavern (first licensed in 1754). In some early accounts, the inn was a favorite meeting house for the members of the Continental Congress in 1777-78, Abraham Hiestand bought the Inn in the 1790's. Some historians suggest the old German-style vaulted stone cellar was used as a hiding place for the Underground Railroad in the early 1800's.

On the early afternoon of Sunday, June 28, 1863, more than 1,000 road-weary Confederate soldiers camped in the fields surrounding the old inn. They had marched from their overnight camp around the hamlet of Farmers in Paradise Township through the town of York, not stopping to eat their noon meal until arriving at the prosperous inn.



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