Today, my brother came up from West Virginia to have Thanksgiving dinner with his two sisters. My sister, Susan, who has lived in Mickleton for many years and now lives on the Platt's farm property, will cook the dinner. Joe and Sue went to the Mount Royal Inn for lunch today. My sister called to ask me to join them. My brother said, "Jo Ann will never come here, it's a bar!" My sister replied, "She'll come because it was built in 1762." She was right.
I have passed this old Inn so many times and read the date on the corner of the roof and wondered about it. Sadly, no one, not even google seems to know much about it, but I am going to try my History of Gloucester County book next.
Turns out one of the reasons I had so much trouble finding information was that the name it was historical known for was Rising Sun Tavern, NOT Mount Royal Inn:
Meanwhile though every lead that my google search offered turned out to be a dud, I found a few other things of great interest to me. I am going back to one site for information on the home of the parents of Ann Cooper Whitall, which I never saw and didn't know was still standing. Here is the link where I found a great deal of information on historic sites in that area.
My sister used to live right up the street, Kings Highway, from the Bodo Otto House, and here is some information on that site:
This house was the home of Dr. Bodo Otto, Jr., who served as a surgeon and militia colonel in Colonel Read's Battalion in the Revolutionary War. He was born in 1748 in Germany. His family immigrated to Philadelphia in the 1750s.
I have passed this old Inn so many times and read the date on the corner of the roof and wondered about it. Sadly, no one, not even google seems to know much about it, but I am going to try my History of Gloucester County book next.
Turns out one of the reasons I had so much trouble finding information was that the name it was historical known for was Rising Sun Tavern, NOT Mount Royal Inn:
Rising Sun Tavern (Mount Royal Inn)
North West corner of intersection of Rt. 551, and Mantua-Paulsboro Road, Mount Royal
This 18th century brick tavern has been known by many names through its long history. It has been called the Heart and Hand Tavern, the Sickler House, and the Blue Anchor Hotel. In 1869 it served briefly as a headquarters for the army.
Meanwhile though every lead that my google search offered turned out to be a dud, I found a few other things of great interest to me. I am going back to one site for information on the home of the parents of Ann Cooper Whitall, which I never saw and didn't know was still standing. Here is the link where I found a great deal of information on historic sites in that area.
The Cooper-Griscom House
Griscom Lane in Greenfields Village, West Deptford Township
Griscom Lane in Greenfields Village, West Deptford Township
This famous landmark was built in the 1740's by Ann Clark Cooper, the mother of Ann Cooper Whitall. The original stone was later covered with brick, and still later with stucco. One of the most famous holly trees in America once stood on the front lawn; this 300-year-old tree was almost destroyed by lightning several years ago. In the 1860's the house and plantation were bought by the Griscom family, who lived there for eight generations.
My sister used to live right up the street, Kings Highway, from the Bodo Otto House, and here is some information on that site:
This house was the home of Dr. Bodo Otto, Jr., who served as a surgeon and militia colonel in Colonel Read's Battalion in the Revolutionary War. He was born in 1748 in Germany. His family immigrated to Philadelphia in the 1750s.
Otto's father, Bodo Otto, Sr., who was also a doctor, served as a senior surgeon in the Revolutionary War. In 1777, Bodo Otto, Sr. ran a hospital in the Old Barracks in Trenton. In 1778, the elder Bodo was placed in charge of the hospital at Yellow Springs, where many of the sick soldiers from the Valley Forge, Pennsylvania encampment were treated. Bodo Jr. went to work at the hospital as well, and continued to work there until 1781. In 1778, while Otto Bodo, Jr. was at Yellow Springs, this house was burned and damaged by Loyalists, and subsequently rebuilt.
Dr. Bodo Otto, Jr., died on January 20, 1782, and is buried several miles from here in the Trinity Episcopal Church Cemetery in Swedesboro. [1]
Nicholas Collin, the Reverend at Trinity Church in Swedesboro, preached Otto's funeral sermon. Otto had been a friend of Collin, and he had once posted bail for Collin when he had been arrested by the militia for suspicion of being pro-British. In Collin's journal, he wrote of the type of person Otto was, including the remarkable fact that Otto helped get a pardon for one of the men who had burnt his house. Collin wrote: [2]
"[I] preached a funeral sermon for the Med. Doctor Bodo Otto in his house, a short mile from Raccoon [now Swedesboro], and buried him at the church... He was in all respects an honorable man, and he had so far as he was able to, prevented much evil during the war. Among praiseworthy actions he obtained pardon for one of the refugees, who had burnt down his house and who for this and other [crimes] would otherwise have been hung... A great crowd of people of all sects was gathered, for he was generally respected. His old father stood trembling at his beloved son's grave, weeping bitterly."
