Fine Food & Lodging

While cleaning out some stuff, a friend of mine found an old pamphlet about the Red Rose Inn, which now stands boarded up and deteriorating at Route 796 and Baltimore Pike in Jennersville. The area code is still listed as "215" (the 610 area code was established in 1994), the mailing address is given as just "West Grove, PA," and it lists as a nearby tourist attraction the "Hillendale Museum," which has been Hillendale Elementary School since 1989. The manager is listed as "the Covatta family."
"For 89 years, the original part of the present Inn was the sole servant of its clientele. Then, in 1829, a large addition was added. The present Inn remains much the same as it was then. The cellar in the historic 1740 section of the building has been restored, and in 1968 the William Penn Room was added as the original carriage house was renovated into the Carriage Lounge. The hand hewn beams overhead give silent testimony to the more ancient architecture of the Chester County barn from which they were salvaged. The stone built fireplace still warms the heart."
Hours were 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, but it stayed open an hour later on Fridays and Saturdays. Sunday brunch was from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday dinner was 4 to 8 p.m.
The pamphlet lists as famous guests "Helen Keller, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxemberg [sic], various Senators and Congressman and numerous originators of the new roses from England, France, Spain, German and other countries." (The author notes the close connection between the inn and Conard-Pyle, "prestigious growers of Star Roses.")