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<\/a>The first is the old West Tavern, in Newtown Square. The second is that of one of the two \u201cSorrel Horse Inns,\u201d on Conestoga road near the little settlement of Ithan.<\/p>\nAccording to Henry Graham Ashmead\u2019s \u201cHistory of Delaware County\u201d, published in 1884, the first record of license to be granted in Newtown township was on the petition in 1727, of one Joseph Hawley, who for several years subsequent to that date operated \u201cHally\u2019s\u201d (Hawley\u2019s) house. Among the later proprietors was John West, father of the famous American artist, Benjamin West, who in his later years became president of the Royal Academy in London. Although Benjamin West was born in 1738 in a house still standing in Swarthmore \u2013 then known as West Dale \u2013 he may well have lived at various times during his childhood in the old tavern pictured in today\u2019s article. In August 28, 1744, his father, John West \u201chaving obtained license for keeping a public house of entertainment in the County of Chester for one year, which being now expired, your petitioner craves to be continued in the same station in the Township.\u201d He remained in business there for four years, when Jonathan James leased the premises \u201cwhere John West lately dwelled.\u201d<\/p>\n
The again, in 1755, John West became \u201cmine host\u201d at the inn, remaining there for three years in the second venture. The old tavern, which at various times was known by different names, according to ownership, became in 1823 the polling place for the electors of Newtown, Radnor and Marple townships, as well as part of Edgmont, according to the historian, Ashmead. Known as the Newtown Square Inn in the 1850\u2019s, the old tavern had evidently assumed the name of the family made famous by the painter, Benjamin West, when the accompanying picture was taken some years later.<\/p>\n
Much confusion has arisen of late years in regard to the name \u201cSorrel Horse Inn\u201d and to its location. This is probably due to the fact that the original tavern of that name, after it had ceased to function as such, became a farmhouse. It was then that another tavern in the immediate neighborhood, but without its predecessor\u2019s historic background, took over its name.<\/p>\n
Amy Oakley, in her charming book, \u201cOur Pennsylvania\u201d, recently published, refers to the first old inn as \u201cthe hoary Sorrel Horse, at Ithan, which was built in 1768 and often sheltered Washington and Lafayette.\u201d During a pleasant visit which your columnist made recently to \u201cWoodstock\u201d, Mr. and Mrs. Thornton Oakley\u2019s Villanova home, Mrs. Oakley told the stories of these two taverns, well-known to her because of their proximity to the Ewing farm, her ancestral home. \u201cWoodstock\u201d is indeed the remodeled barn on this farm.<\/p>\n