History Spotlight
A Tree Grows in Broomall Written by Doug Humes Photos courtesy of the Marple Historical Society
T
he Drove Tavern sat next to the current Armenian Delight store, on the Sproul Road side. The tavern had apparently gotten there first, and so Sproul road simply circled around it. The first building was a log structure, built in 1723, by one of Marple’s early settlers, Jonathan Morris. He used it as the family home, and commuted to work, down the Sproul Road hill to Darby Creek, where he ran a saw mill. The Drove Tavern building in 1915 with its ancient sycamore tree
By 1798, Hugh and Rebecca Lownes owned the property, and built a large two-story stone addition to the old log cabin. They applied for a tavern license and opened up the Drove Tavern in 1800. As the name implies, the tavern catered to drovers – men hired by farmers to drive their cattle and other livestock to market. The tavern had pens behind it for the cattle, and ale and lodging inside for the men.
It was cut down and dragged in large pieces down the road to Broomall Grove. The huge stump was, however, still in the path of progress. The solution: blow it up with dynamite. What could go wrong?
Jonathan Morris probably planted the sycamore tree that appears in the earliest photo of the tavern, and by 1923, that tree was considered ancient. The building owner was planning improvements, and so the 200-year-old tree had to go.
The explosive was placed under the stump, which was then covered in mud. The fuse was lit, and afterwards, what went up started coming down. A huge portion of the stump crashed through the roof of the Hewston family’s home in Broomall
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