The Golden Plough Tavern - York, PA
N 39° 57.686 W 076° 43.897
18S E 352102 N 4424912
Once upon a time, this was a very important and influential pub and tavern, marking its place in the annuls of Revolutionary War history very similar to the Indian King tavern in Haddonfield, NJ.
Waymark Code: WMH69X
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 05/29/2013
Views: 6
As a public meeting place during the period the Continental Congress was convened in York, the Golden Plough Tavern must have been the center of much activity. General Horatio Gates, the hero of the Revolutionary War after the Battle of Saratoga was renting the adjoining house and the cooking for all meals served in his dining room was being performed in the tavern kitchen. SOURCE
The architecture is an old timber style rarely seen anymore. I found a similar construction in Trenton at another NRP site called the Old Barracks. The Golden Plough Tavern, as it is called today was built in 1741 on the same site as the General Horatio Gates House. The NRHP listing calls this site by both names. The Golden Plough Tavern, General Horatio Gates House & Bobb Log House are restored eighteenth- and nineteenth-century buildings.
The Plough Tavern, built in 1741, presents the significant role a tavern played in a community as hotel, restaurant and source for news and housed Congressional delegates. The Gates House (c.1751) reflects the year 1778 when General Gates occupied the house while the Continental Congress met in York and was the setting of the Conway Cabal Meeting in which the overthrow of Washington as commander was prevented. The Bobb House, built with squared timbers, shows family life in the 1830s and acts as an example of a frontier house.
SOURCE
This place offers tours in a historical museum setting. There is also a statue of Lafayette out front. He stayed here as well. There is also a marker at this site. it reads:
Possibly the oldest surviving building in York. Built, c. 1741, by Martin Eichelberger, native of the German Black Forest. Its massive hewn half-timbers reflect a style almost unknown today, of medieval architecture.
Information has been update to reflect this as the oldest building and no longer possibly the oldest.