Crown Inn: Bethlehem's First Tavern
Near Allentown, Pennsylvania
In the mid seventeen forties, a log inn rose here near the ferry crossing over the Lehigh River, becoming one of Bethlehem's earliest public houses. Taverns in colonial Pennsylvania were essential infrastructure, not just drinking establishments. They served as courtrooms, post offices, polling places, and staging grounds for military movements.
The Crown Inn served travelers passing through during the Revolutionary era, when this Lehigh crossing was a key route into the interior of Pennsylvania. A bridge later replaced the old ferry, shifting traffic patterns enough that the inn lost its reason to exist. It closed, and the building was razed in the nineteenth century.
Only this marker remains to mark the spot where travelers once warmed themselves before crossing the river.
