Spring House Tavern

Strasburg grew along the Old Conestoga Road, where travelers stopped and residents of the surrounding farmland came to trade. Taverns were part of that early town. They offered a place to eat and rest while serving the traffic that passed along Main Street. The brick building at 8–10 East Main Street has a connection to that history: it was used as a tavern in its early years and is home to the Spring House Tavern today.

The building was constructed in two stages, dated to about 1781 and 1789. Strasburg’s historic inventory attributes it to John Funk. Its brick walls and two-story form remain, along with architectural details that distinguish it from an ordinary storefront. Carved keystones mark the arches over the windows, and a water table runs along the base of the building. The eastern storefront dates from a later period, showing how the property changed as Main Street continued to serve the town’s businesses.

The building’s return to use as a tavern gives its history a pleasing continuity, although it should not be taken to mean that a tavern operated there without interruption for more than two centuries. An architect’s record dates the work for Spring House Tavern to 2021 and describes it as a renovation for a new occupant. Today, the tavern occupies the historic space at 8–10 East Main Street.

This is one of the qualities that makes Strasburg’s Main Street memorable. The building still belongs to the daily life of the town, while its brickwork, windows, and later storefront carry evidence of the generations that used it before. At Spring House Tavern, an early purpose of the building has found a place in Strasburg’s present.