A spring house, or springhouse, is a small building, usually of a single room, constructed over a spring. While the original purpose of a springhouse was to keep the spring water clean by excluding fallen leaves, animals, etc., the enclosing structure was also used for refrigeration before the advent of ice delivery and, later, electric refrigeration. The water of the spring maintains a constant cool temperature inside the spring house throughout the year. Food that would otherwise spoil, such as meat, fruit, or dairy products, could be kept there, safe from animal depredations as well. Springhouses thus often also served as pumphouses, milkhouses, and root cellars.
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The Historic Old Stone House was a working tavern in the 19th century, utilizing the spring on the property for such a Spring House. The museum is free to the public and open May-October Saturday 10-5 and Sunday 12-5.
Travelers staying at the Stone House mingled with locals anxious for news from other parts; the house’s “tavern room” was a lively place of conversation, merriment, and hearty food. In the evening, travelers bedded down in simple (and often uncomfortable) quarters in the house’s upper rooms.
During its long history, the Stone House also served as a local post office and was used as a muster point during the Civil War. The inn was sometimes visited by highway bandits, and also was the hangout for two separate gangs of counterfeiters, one of which was led by a sinister figure whose cold demeanor earned him the nickname “Old Man North Pole.”
By the 1870s, the growth of the railroads meant the house was no longer needed as a stopping place for highway travelers. Consequently, the structure was rented as a family farmstead. Tenants still accepted occasional travelers for the night, and on Sunday, served chicken dinners to guests. The last occupants abandoned the venerable, old structure in 1918. For years, motorists along Route 8 could still see the crumbling walls jutting over the dense underbrush that covered the site.
Finally, in 1963 the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, hoping to attract visitors to the northern side of Moraine State Park, undertook the task of restoring the historic building. When the project was finished, the house was furnished with artifacts donated by local citizens. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy turned over the restored structure to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) which operated the site as a museum for 20 years.
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