July 2, 09 - we drove to see Schaefferstown, PA, founded in 1763. Along the road towards our destination, there were plenty of dairy farms, sheep, cattle, and rolling hills filled with corn crops. Sometimes we saw potato crops as well, and a myriad of flowers everywhere. We stopped to see the noted Fountain Park on South Market Street, the oldest documented public works system and oldest Chartered Waterworks in the United States. It is spring fed fountain. Not much to look at but the water is still used by the townspeople for portable household water. 
We saw an historic tavern The Franklin House Tavern and Inn on Market Street and after taking pictures of the 
town square, we decided to eat lunch there. The food was excellent and much too much to eat so took some home. Loved the sweet potato fries.
It was a real treat to speak to the owner who took us upstairs to an outside patio he had built for patrons to enjoy the outdoors. I asked the owner if the tavern was noted for being haunted and found out it is. Several paranormal groups have visited and found odd things, especially in Room #3 where there is a lot of energy felt. The owner two years ago purchased the run-down dilapidated building and proceeded to make it look like it did in its hay-day. When he had changed out all the light bulbs the bulbs blew all at one time, although they were on separate circuits. When he had started to paint a room, leaving late one night with three cans of yellow paint, lids on tight, he arrived in the morning to find the lids off and the paint had been tossed up onto the ceiling and walls. Once the three new stoves were installed, they all stopped working every Friday for a month. Each Saturday, they would start working again. 
We saw an historic tavern The Franklin House Tavern and Inn on Market Street and after taking pictures of the 
town square, we decided to eat lunch there. The food was excellent and much too much to eat so took some home. Loved the sweet potato fries. 
The tavern was established in 1746 and was a stopping place for travelers where they could rest in the rooms upstairs and also stable their horses. The owner told us there are underground tunnels to this day and were used to hide from the Indians. There were two known Indian raids in Schaefferstown. Schaefferstown is one of the only surviving Baroque-planned Germanic towns in America, and is a rare example of the culturally-distinct German building typology.
We took another route to return home and passed through small communities like Newsmanstown.
