Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-03-14

~1IE pictorial features and the
history of the River road. which
leads west from the Rockville
q road a Tenlcytown, are not to
be exhausted i'll the course of a single
ramble. or. for that matter, in the
course of several rambies. A week or
30 ago the Rambler told of his trip
over a section of this very old high
way and carried his narrative as far
as Henry Loughborough's stone house,
part of which was an Indian trading
post in that remote time when such
things were to be met with in the
country around Washington. Last
Sunday the walk led past that old gray
house. with its evergreen screen and
shade of pines and cedarS. and farther
along the River road to the valley of
Wilietts branch, which is the next
watercourse to he crossed after you
have turned your back on Little Falls
branch.
After crossing Wiiletts branch and
ascending to the higher ground on the
westward side You come to small
house with rough stone chimneyS,
which stands on the left of the road.
That house ever so long ago. and no
one seems able to find out how long
ago was known as the Spinning Wheel
Tavern a good many years before the
coming on of the American revolution
Local antiuuarians have sought to
delve back to the time of the cree
ton of that house, but have given over
the task, saying that they are sure II
was standing there and doing thirty
ing trade with the wagoners and stage
coach passengers travelling between
east and west when what is now Mont
gomery county was a part of Prince
Georges county. Montgomery county
was created in 1915 and the Spinning
Wheel Tavern was an institution then.
This house has been the subject of
particular inquiry by Mrs Henry
Loughborough and by Mrs. Frankstone.
who lives on the Bell Mill road. about
four miles west of the tavern. as well
as by members of other old Maryland
families who are actively interested in
the Society of the Daughters OF the
American Revolution and it's work.
The Rambler stopped at the tavern
for rest and chat with the people
who live there today and who nave
long lived there. The head of the fam
ily is Jehu tnot john Willett. Mrs.
Willett is the daughter of Rachel Shoe
maker and Thomas Dean. and the
Deans owned the tavern as far back as
its history can be traced, which IS 10
1775. Mrs Willett's father was Thomas
Dean. his father was Thomas Dean
and his father was also Thomas Dean.
who was running the Spinning Wheel
Tavern at the outbreak of the Amerl-
can revolution and who became a pa
triot soldier in the independence cause:
1t was called the Spinning Wheel
Tavern because its sign was spin
ming wheel, which in those times was
understood a symbol of industry
and thrift. Some taverns were the
Red Horse" the White Horse the
Blue Dragon" the Bears Head" the
Golden Pheasant" etc, but this tav-
ern, a few miles west of the spot on
which the capital of a new nation was
TO rise. was the Spinning Wheel. That
device was in the second-story window,
above the main door, fronting the
pike. When the house was partly re-
modelled just after the close of the
civil war, the spinning wheel was re-
moved and nobody with whom the
Rambler has talked about this subject
knows what became of it.
Mrs. Willett remembers when the
road by the tavern was lined by trains
of wagons, and she has heard her
father tell of the great business done
there before people began to travel on
such new-fangled devices as railroads.
Hundreds of travellers have been to-
II was then a larger structure than the
picture shows, the present house being
a part Of the ancient roadside inn.
Years ago the Rambler wrote