Birth of a Village

Springfield 1808...

...about 130 years later, someone old remembered that the shed the ladies kept their Model T in was actually the first tavern in the area. It was built by Col David Boal in 1804 near a rill in a place soon to be laid out by Andrew Stroup and named Springfield. Most of the original taverns from Lewisburg to Fort Pitt had by then been recycled or destroyed. Records found show the tavern sheltered as many as 50 travelers a night. Of course, you shared a room and body heat. Half the building was picked up and hauled away to Church Street in the 1830's with the help of pulleys and winches in suspended from an ancient elm tree and a team of twenty horses.

The young can visit once a year on Memorial day, but most forget it's here.