Lancaster City
The Beginning or the End of your journey on the Turnpike
*Above banner image, Leaping Deer, was taken between Coatesville and Lancaster, PA. on the Lancaster Pike.
The area now known as Lancaster was first known as Hickory and became Lancaster City in 1754. Sachse describes the White Swan which was located there as a "Stage stand of the first order and was the scene of many important gatherings, social, political and Masonic." According to the Lancaster Visitor Center it was torn down in 1924. However as part of the Stevens and Smith Historic Site development there is a plan to bring back the Swan along with the opening of the Lancaster County Convention Center. Other well known Inns or Taverns in the city included: Henry Slaymaker's Pennsylvania Arms, The Ship, Balsamen, Sign of the Wagon, Old Grape Tavern, The Plow, Sorrel Horse, Cross Keys Hotel and the Lamb.
A 1796 Stage Line started from the house of Susanna Edwards who owned The Prince Ferdinand (later The Fountain Inn) located on South Queen Street. Another stage line departed from William Ferree's Sign of General Washington on King Street. In May 1797 the first regular stage left Lancaster at 5 PM carrying 10 passengers. It arrived in Philadelphia at 5 AM the next morning, a blazing 12 hour time for the 62 3/4 mile trek. By 1823 11 competing stage lines were servicing the turnpike. I suspect that first 5 PM to 5 AM stage was our Nations first Red Eye as well.
The Slaymaker Hotel also known as the Pennsylvania Arms
- image borrowed from their family website
As you can see these last blocks of information are borrowed from the Stevens and Smith Historic Site Website. The images and information are theirs and has been placed here for educational purposes only and not for profit on my part. Please go to their website below for much more information on this project. http://www.stevensandsmith.org/
A map showing part of historic downtown Lancaster which had many places to catch the stage from.
The diagram at left from the Stevens and Smith website shows part of the planned Historic Site complex in Downtown Lancaster. The Grey and Red Brick buildings in the foreground are the same two pictured above in the blighted and artist's conception above.
It's exciting to me for two reasons, first it includes the historic Swan Hotel and Tavern and second because of the Thaddeus Stevens connection because he lived and practiced law in this area. A fairly recent discovery was an underground cistern that may have been used to hide runaway slaves. That's in the left hand corner of the diagram.