July Meeting
Saturday, July 9th at 1PM
July will be an offsite meeting at the Mill at Anselma in Yellow Springs. We will meet at 1pm on July 9th in front of the visitor’s center as a group.
The cost is $4/person. Anyone who needs a ride, call Dave at 610-323-9273 and we’ll meet at the Historical Society at noon. The afternoon will consist of a guided tour of the mill and an actual demonstration of the mill in operation. There will also be a talk on how people lived and worked at the mill in the 1860s. The more the merrier, so come on out to our event!
I have the sad duty of announcing the passing of Jane Green, a Board Member of the Historical Society for many years. We will miss her laughter and beautiful smile. Fair winds and calm seas to you, Jane!
Library Hours
July 2016: the 10th & 24th 1-4pm
August 2016: the 14th & 28th 1-4pm
Acquisitions
We received four boxes of recordings and archival materials of the Pottstown Symphony Orchestra from Robert Rittinger and the First Niagara Bank.
Welcome New Members!
Sara Jane Silver
Susan Cameron
The Rising Sun Inn
Today, when we think of a place to stay when traveling, we call a motel for reservations and drive hundreds of miles to get there. Back in the era of the Rising Sun Inn, you were lucky to travel five to ten miles a day and had to hope the Inn had a room for you.
The Rising Sun Inn was a frame structure sitting upon a stone foundation on the S.E. corner of High & York Streets. The building does not show on the 1762 Potts’ Rental Map. It is thought to have been erected about 1764 by our founder, John Potts, and possibly served as a house first.
It was sold by John Potts, Jr in 1765 and later sold by way of sheriff’s sale in 1770 to Charles Witz. Witz turned it in to a hotel with his son, Jacob, as its landlord.
During the Revolution, it is said that it served as General George Washington’s headquarters for two days in 1777. The Witz family sold the hotel in 1790 and it went through a succession of owners until 1845 when Jacob Weaver purchased it. Weaver also built a three-story brick hotel on the other side of York Street. When Weaver died in 1857, his partners sold the Rising Sun property to Henry G. Moser, who razed it in 1865. Such a sad ending for a structure that served as a public house from 1770-1847 and had Washington as a guest. We are not aware of any photos of the Inn.