In Silver Spring Township, Pennsylvania, five miles outside of Carlisle on Route 11, we recently almost lost a part of our nation’s history.
A building is located there in the Cumberland Valley that once belonged to a captain during the Revolutionary War. His name was James Bell. He served in the 3rd Battalion of the Militia, East Pennsborough Township, 1st Company, in 1780. The same year, he built a tavern, an unassuming structure made of stone.
It was on July 3rd, 1788, that a group of area leaders convened at Bell’s tavern to discuss the binding ratification of the United States Constitution that had taken place a couple of weeks prior when New Hampshire became the ninth of the Thirteen States to sign on to it.
Among the men gathered at Capt. Bell’s tavern were Benjamin Blythe, who was an early settler of nearby Shippensburg, and Robert Whitehill, a member of the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention that gave its approval of the Declaration of Independence twelve years earlier. They were Anti-Federalists, so they weren’t too pleased with the Constitution creating a strong centralized body of government.
Whitehill, in fact, led the minority dissent against Pennsylvania’s ratification of the Constitution the previous year, presenting a list of fifteen amendments to it. Those amendments were rejected. The dissent was put to paper a few days after the ratification convention adjourned. In it, Whitehill composed a slightly shorter list of fourteen points–a bill of rights–which he believed should have been applied to the Constitution as amendments.
Whitehill and the other men gathered at the tavern to figure out how to rally others in their declaration of amending the Constitution. At what is now known as the Stony Ridge Convention, these Anti-Federalists drew up a letter that they then circulated to other Anti-Federalists around the state.
As chronicled by James Wilson in Pennsylvania and the Federal Constitution, 1787-1788 (p. 552), the letter signed by Blythe was a call for delegates to join together “and exert their power in unison” to demand Constitutional amendments.
Paul Leicester Ford documented the meeting taking place “[a]t Mr. James Bell’s” on page 17 of The Origin, Purpose and Result of The Harrisburg Convention of 1788. The convention of those delegates took place the following September. The resulting petition included 12 proposed constitutional amendments. The petition was never formally introduced.
However, many believe that when James Madison authored our nation’s first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, he adopted them directly from Whitehill’s fourteen proposed points.
That brings us to present day. James Bell’s tavern had survived the centuries since that historic meeting, eventually becoming an auto sales dealership. The current owner of the property, local real estate developing firm Triple Crown Corporation, sought and received a permit from the township to tear down the building.
On January 6th, demolition commenced on the building where Whitehill, Blythe, and others once hashed out a plan to retain the rights of their fellow countrymen. It was only when a friend of Christine Musser, a member of the township’s Conservation and Preservation Committee, informed her of the building’s significance did anyone make an attempt to stop its destruction.
Cumberland County’s The Sentinel wrote:
After “doing some digging” about the matter at the Cumberland County Historical Society, she alerted township officials about the matter.
Demolition of the historic structure was “put on hold” and discontinued on Jan. 7, Musser said. To her estimation, about a third of the building was demolished during the initial process.
“Triple Crown apparently had no clue of the building’s historical significance. It was an oversight,” Musser stated.
“Late Wednesday, January 6, township staff became aware that demolition of a building later identified as the Bell Tavern had begun by Triple Crown Corporation,” Silver Spring Township officials said in a news release issued Thursday. “Township staff issued a stop-work order on the demolition, and the developer complied. By that time, a portion of the building had been demolished. The stop-work order allowed us to assess the situation and whether the developer was in compliance with our ordinances.”
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“Whether intentional or by error in 1995, the Bell Tavern was not listed as an historic, protected building on the Township’s Cultural Features Map and Historic Buildings List referred to in our zoning ordinance. Based on that, the Township had to lift the stop-work order. Despite the lifting of the order, the developer has continued to suspend demolition, affording us the opportunity to engage in discussions about the preservation of the building.”
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“Those of us, Township staff and elected officials, who work on behalf of the people of Silver Spring Township, were upset by the circumstance. To further protect historic buildings and sites within the township, we have taken steps to update the historic building map and list,” the township’s news release reads.
According to Central Pennsylvania’s WPMT Fox43, Musser said, “We didn’t know about this history. We knew about it being an old tavern built in the 18th century, but we didn’t know that it had this historical significance.”
Hmm. The Silver Spring Township’s local historian who serves on the local Conservation and Preservation Committee and even wrote a book about the local history didn’t know the story behind one of the local area’s most historic buildings. And neither did anyone else in the local government. Okay.
Via PennLive, Musser believes the remaining part of the building can be saved.
Musser, however, hopes the latest Bell Tavern episode will prove to be just a near miss.
She said Wednesday she is still hopeful that at least some remaining portion of the tavern can be preserved and get its due, including a state historic marker or some other designation.
Fox43 quoted Musser as saying, “I’m an eternal optimist so therefore, I’m hoping that it can be put back to as much of its original state as possible.”
For its part, Triple Crown Corporation says they had no idea of the old tavern’s significance. They seemed a mite testy over the hubbub in their press release.
The Lower Paxton Township-based company states it was caught off guard “as most others were in Silver Spring Township” by the potential historical significance of the stone house at 7086 Carlisle Pike.
Triple Crown reports it voluntarily halted demolition of the property after being informed of its potential significance by township supervisor Dave Lenker. The press release states the company wanted to try to gain a better understanding of the facts.
“Several discussions and meetings with township officials have occurred over the last week,” the release reads. “It is anticipated that a final resolution as to the property status will happen within the next month.”
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Prior to its application for a demolition permit, Triple Crown Corporation examined federal, state, county and township records for any reference to an historical registration, according to the release. “This review was required by the demolition permit itself.”
“There was no indication of any historical significance of the property on any of the above sites,” Triple Crown states. “Upon proper issuance of the demolition permit mobilization and dismantling of the property began.”
The release mentioned how the company had submitted at least four separate industrial land development and subdivision plans during the 40 years it has owned land adjoining the tavern. “At no time during these publicly advertised and open to the public meetings was there any mention of the potential historical significance of the property,” the release states.
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Triple Crown acquired the land the tavern sits on about a year ago in a foreclosure process. Most recently the building was used as a real estate office, computer repair store, and a used car lot. During the foreclosure process, the property was abandoned and continued to deteriorate, according to the press release.
“Although we are in sincere dialogue with Silver Spring Township, we must emphasize that this is private property,” Triple Crown says. “Over the decades, the state, county and township all have had multiple opportunities to acquire and protect this asset. This could have been done for the benefit of the citizens at the expense of the citizens.
“Demanding that ownership repair and give this property to a governmental or historical preservation group at the sole cost of an individual owner is in direct opposition of what the Bill of Rights stand for,” the release reads.
The company makes a good point, although I was able to find out a bit of historical information of the site on my own, as I indicated above. It looks to me that both public officials and private entities dropped the wrecking ball on this one. At least somebody noticed what was going on and knew enough to let others know before this piece of America’s origins was wiped away forever.
Now that you know the story of the building, take a look at a photo of its current state, courtesy of Michael Bupp of The Sentinel:
You know, I hate to use the word “symbolic,” since that’s the word others have been using to describe what they see. So I’ll go with “emblematic.”
To further the…emblemism…do note these two amendments that Whitehill proposed in his written dissent at the Pennsylvania ratification convention:
Seventh. That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and their own state, or the United States, or for the purpose of killing game, and no law shall be passed for disarming the people or any of them, unless for crimes committed, or real danger of public injury from individuals; and as standing armies in the time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military shall be kept under strict subordination to and be governed by the civil powers.
Eighth. The inhabitants of the several states shall have liberty to fowl and hunt in seasonable times, on the lands’ they hold, and on all other lands in the United States not inclosed, and in like manner to fish in all navigable waters, and others not private property, without being restrained therein by any laws to be passed by the legislature of the United States.
So if James Madison indeed modeled the nation’s Bill of Rights after Whitehill’s bill of rights, the preceding two amendments ought to shut down any argument over muskets and militias.
One last thing. The original name of Captain Bell’s tavern?
Yep. There’s some emblemism there, all right.
Like that rocky, centuries-old structure, our nation’s taken some devastating hits the last few years. But it isn’t too late. Our nation can be saved and preserved. And hopefully someday soon, we can restore it to its former glory.
