Description: Looking northeast, this image of the Paoli Inn, taken by Julius Sachse in 1888 and used in his classic The Wayside Inns on the Lancaster Roadside Between Philadelphia and Lancaster, shows the pre-Revolutionary structure standing abandoned. One of scores of hostelries scattered along the 62-mile Lancaster Turnpike from Philadelphia to Lancaster, the Paoli Inn (or Paoli Tavern, or most frequently, just the “Paoli”) was one of the most important stopping places on this early thoroughfare. With the advent of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railway (the predecessor of the Pennsylvania Railroad), the importance of the Paoli only grew, and it was said that “The activity and bustle at the Paoli was probably not equaled at any similar establishment in the State.” But in its last years the inn had run into hard times. Investors calling themselves the “Paoli Improvement Company” remodeled the Paoli in an attempt to create a fashionable resort, but the decline could not be stemmed. By 1886 the old inn had been closed and the grounds deserted. The Paoli Inn burned in 1899, and what remained was razed. In 2014 the site is occupied by the Paoli Village Shoppes. - Herb Fry and Roger Thorne
References: The Wayside Inns on the Lancaster Roadside between Philadelphia and Lancaster, by Julius F. Sachse, Self published, 1915 (2nd Edition); Inns & Taverns by Beth Arnold, TEQ 44-1/2 (Winter/Spring 2007) Early History of Paoli by Mike Bertram, TE Quarterly, vol. 51, #1 (April 2014).
