Aug 19, 2015 3 min read

News spread quickly Tuesday morning about the fire that destroyed the Century Inn. In telephone calls, texts and emails, in conversations in coffee shops and at gas pumps and in so many workplaces the talk was all about the shocking loss of the historic Scenery Hill landmark. For many of us, the reaction was emotional, like a death in the family.

As we are learning from our readers, few places in Western Pennsylvania have meant so much to so many people. The inn began offering beds to weary travelers and serving food and drink in 1794, early in George Washington’s second term as U.S. president. But the memories made there in the 20th and 21st centuries are what come first to so many minds: the weddings, anniversaries, family dinners and special celebrations.

Stephen and Thomas Hill began building the tavern from local stone in 1788 in what was then called Hillsborough, a hamlet along the trail used by pioneers to reach the edge of the frontier.

Hill’s Stone Tavern was well established in 1806 when President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation for the construction of the National Road, meant to connect the East with the new territories.

Construction began in 1811 and by 1818 had reached Wheeling and the Ohio River.

Until the 1870s and the advent of railroads, the inn stood beside a virtual river of commerce and migration, upon which traveled huge Conestoga wagons headed east with whiskey and produce and going west with coffee, sugar and human cargo bound for what was hoped was a better life.

The coming of the automobile brought new life to the National Pike and the inn. By 1926, what became known as Route 40 stretched from Atlantic City, N.J., to San Francisco, Calif. When Interstate 70 was completed through Washington County, much of the traffic disappeared from the old road, but the popularity of the Century Inn did not fade.

Countless feet wore depressions in the stone steps and threshold of the inn, the history of which was evident to all five senses.

How many visitors have ducked under its low doorways and trod its uneven, creaking floors?

The inn was purchased in 1945 by Gordon and Mary Amanda Harrington and was being operated by their daughter-in-law, Megin Harrington, at the time of the calamity.

Lost in the fire were precious antiques and Megin Harrington’s collection of art, but also much more.

Megin has been a patron and enthusiastic supporter of local artists and musicians, and her inn became a venue for art shows and hootenannies.

The gardens and gazebo were the setting for weddings and other gatherings where indelible memories were made.

Our readers are sharing some of those memories and photographs on observer-reporter.com, and we will feature them in Sunday’s edition.

It is all gone now.

Perhaps something will rise in its place that incorporates some of its ancient pieces, but the Century Inn can never be replaced.

Perhaps something positive can emerge from the ashes, and that would be an awareness of our oldest historic landmarks that still remain, and the need we have to preserve and protect them.