Rodgers Tavern Museum

Brief History:

From the late 1600s to the 1880s, a ferry and tavern on the east bank of the Susquehanna River in Perryville, Maryland, supplied transportation, food, rest, and a sense of community. Today, Rodgers Tavern belongs to the Town of Perryville, now open as a museum to residents and visitors for their benefit and enjoyment.

This location has had a ferry and tavern since at least 1695 when the Maryland Colonial legislature formalized its existence and importance by law. Jacob Young is the first recorded ferry and tavern keeper for the Cecil County side of the Susquehanna Lower Ferry.

Rodgers Tavern, built in the 1740s, is a two-story Georgian-style stone building. The tavern was named after Scotsman John Rodgers and Elizabeth, his wife. Once essential, it and the nearby Susquehanna Lower Ferry were part of an overland transportation system spanning the eastern seaboard. Run by the Rodgers from 1779-1781 and 1791-1799, the tavern offered a place to eat, drink, and rest along the well-known Old Post Road or Philadelphia Road. The road was even used by General George Washington, who selected it as the route for the march of American and French forces to Yorktown, Virginia, in the summer of 1781 and their triumphant return a year later.

Our Mission:

Rodgers Tavern Museum preserves and shares the inimitable stories of all who lived, worked at, and visited this once vital link along one of the most important roadways in America’s early history through dynamic, engaging experiences that encourage exploration of our area's rich cultural and natural legacy.