#43 - John’s Keys*: Happy Anniversary Drums Hotel!
*After rechecking some data and re-searching my memory, I believe I may have confused Abraham's son George and Abraham's brother, Philip's, son John. These may actually have been called "George's Keys" when I found them, as it appears after further research that it is more likely that George was the final proprietor of the Drum's Hotel and John that of the Stage Coach Stop Inn. Of course, the box may have included keys from both hotels but still have been called "John's Keys".
In our most recent posts, we looked at the remedies
various Drums used over the years to keep themselves in good health – or just
to be able to make it through a day. Pills, glasses, lotions, canes, baths,
teas, salves, dentures, walkers, hearing aids and more, even prayers, were
looked at as options chosen by various Drums in their quest to feel better. In
this post we move back to an element of our existence in Drums that is not as
personal as the pills we took or the clothes we wore; but the hotel we built:
Drums Hotel - the hotel that was so central to the Drums community almost from
the start that the community took from the hotel and its owner, its name! It
seems fitting to take this look at this structure now since 2020 marks the
building’s 200th year of service.
It started as a
tavern George built in 1820. His son, Abraham, expanded the tavern to
make it into a Hotel in 1840. Jacob’s son Isaac (Jacob, George, Jacob,
Philip) set up a shoe makers shop there in 1842.[1]
In its lifetime, the hotel served as a
gathering place for both food and liquid refreshment, social interaction
(obviously before COVID-19 came along); probably political argument; even
served as a pseudo-post-office before the village had a post office of its own.
No longer suitable for a hotel, probably in the late 1920’s or early 1930’s, it
became a boarding house and then in the 1950’s, an apartment complex and today
(2020), a private home. However, for the greater part of its existence, its
first 100 years, 1820 – 1920, it was a central point of community activity for
the residents of Drums. In this post we will take a closer, deeper look at that
structure - the Drums Hotel.
However, our story, the story of John’s Keys, begins not
at the hotel in Drums Village, but just over a mile south, at a farm in
Fritzingertown owned by George’s Great Great Grandson, Elmer Drum and his wife,
Ella. Nor does the story begin in 1820. This story begins in 1965! At least,
that’s where I am starting it.
In 1965, my father’s 68-year-old mother, Elmer’s widow[2],
Ella Drum, suffered a stroke. Unable to continue to live independently in her
Fritzingertown home, she moved in with us at Drumyngham and the Fritzingertown
property and goods were auctioned off.
The sale was held on Saturday, May 22, 1965.
Life-long Drums resident Pete Medvecky told me he
remembers the sale[3].
He said his father bought a piece of farming equipment from us that day. Unfortunately
for my Dad, Pete said they had gotten it for a pretty good price.
Although I was just eight-years-old, I remember the day
too; well, only parts of that day, mostly being yelled at for getting in the
way -- a lot. However, I remember also being told that if I wanted something, I
needed to put it aside because everything was going to be gone by the end of
the day. So, I started to look at stuff I might want.
The eyes of an eight-year-old see things differently than
those of more years. I now read over the sale flyer and see many items I wish
we had kept but were sold that May day in 1965, probably for a price the buyer
thought was “pretty good”.
My 12-year-old brother kept a number of things, one of
which was a framed print of a thoroughbred horse, approximately 24”x 32”. It was
very nice. So, what did I put aside to keep? A cigar box full of old keys.
I remember asking one of my parents, not sure which,
probably Mom, “Can I have these?” Someone said, “Oh look, he’s found John’s
keys.” Someone else, probably Mom, said, “Now what do you want those for?” I
know it was Mom who said, “They are just dirty, rusty, old keys. Not even any
locks to go with them! Just something else to clutter up the house!” But I
wanted them. I don’t know why. I probably didn’t know why, then, either! There
was just something about them that caught my eye.
After a lot of sighing and consternation the conclusion
was arrived at that I’d be allowed to keep the keys. “Alright. Yes, you can
keep the keys. Go put them on the floor of the rear seat (of the car) so we
don’t forget them,” Mom finally said and then sighed. So, home they came.
She was right, of course. They pretty much sat on a shelf
or in a drawer, cluttering up the house, until one day, probably in the 1970’s,
Mom decided they might be an interesting “objet d'art”, put them into a
mushroom shaped glass jar she had, and popped it onto a shelf.
A while ago, as I was dusting, tossing stuff, putting
stuff aside for Goodwill, etc. and I came upon those keys. I hadn’t looked at
them for years; probably not since I was a teenager or even earlier.
I opened the “mushroom” and poured the keys out. Among
the assortment of keys that poured out of the jar I found car keys and padlock
keys, some clock keys, a few pocket-watch keys, LOTS of keys; even a few
obviously added since 1965!
Although some were obviously more “modern”, most were of
an “older” variety. One “type” that stood out were the ones many people call “Skeleton
Keys”. I actually remembered one from Grammy’s farm. It used to hang by a shed
door and had been painted the same color as the door it once opened (which is
why I remembered it - bottom row, first key on the left).
Technically, antique or modern, a “Skeleton Key” is the
master key that can open all the locks of a specific type or in a specific
structure; sort of the “bare bones” of keys. That is not what we are talking
about here.
The keys we are referring to here are of an older variety
and have a “look” to them; a “head” or “Bow”, sometimes fancy, a long shaft, and
a square, flattened portion off the “Pin”, called a “Bit”, which is cut (Key
Wards) to form various length protrusions or teeth. It is these teeth that trip
the locking elements within a lock, thus opening or locking the lock.
One reason that these type keys are called “Skeleton Keys”
might be because they are the type of keys often pictured with skeletons in
prison cells and such that one sees around Halloween or in pirate books. At
least, that’s how I saw them when I was eight. I’m guessing that it was the
“pirate connection” that caused me to want those keys so much.
Upon looking at the collection again after all these
years, once again it was the Skeleton Keys that caught my eyes. And here they are, the Skeleton Keys of the
John’s Keys Collection.
This time, however, they caught my eye not because of
their “pirate connection”, but because now, being seen through the eyes of a
60-plus-years-old, the connection was with locks and doors; not prison doors,
but bedroom doors and their locks from the 1870’s or 1880’s.
But their age wasn’t the only factor that caught my
attention. There was also the fact that there was just so darn many of them! Why
were there so many keys? In addition to the padlock, car, and other smaller
keys, both old and new, there were 30 of the larger, highly similar, “skeleton”
keys: five keys in one group, seven in
another, three sets of twins, and a dozen miscellaneous keys. Then I soon found
the head of another skeleton key (we Drums apparently keep everything!) that
matched the group of five making, originally, a set of six – 31 keys! What
doors or locks did they open? Why would someone on a farm need 31 keys,
especially with so many of them being highly similar? Were there really that
many doors that needed to be locked on the Drum’s farm? Maybe one of “us” was a
locksmith!
Here are the “twins” from the collection. Three sets, each
a set of two highly similar, if not identical, keys.
One of the two larger sets of similar keys measures three
and three quarters inches long. The other, actually consisting of five full
keys and just the “head” of a sixth, are 4 inches in length.
The set of seven has one key greatly filed down and has a
bit of string tied to it. It is at the top in this photo. The one at the bottom
of the photo has the number “12” stamped on it just under the head. This is the
only one in this set to include any markings on the key. It is not a “perfect”
match to the others, either, showing ever so slight differences from the rest.
It might not be part of the group.
As I pondered the question of why so many keys, the name
they were called when I first found them in Grammy’s house came back to mind:
“John’s Keys”. John, my father’s father’s father’s father (Harry, Elmer,
Nathan, John) who died in 1881 at age 55; proprietor of the Drums Hotel; these
keys, at least some of them, had been HIS keys.
Could these be the keys that were once used by guests
staying in the Drums Hotel? Could these be the keys guests used to lock their
hotel room door at night before climbing into bed, or when they left during the
day on some business or social errand, only to use it once again to re-enter
their room upon return in the evening? A set of very similar keys would be what
one would expect a hotel keeper would have. Could the string be the string that
once held the room number tag to the key?
Of course. these are questions for which we may never
know the true answers. You might say the answers to the questions concerning
“John’s Keys” are locked away forever.
Kevin Kania, present owner of the house that was once the
Drums Hotel, and a really nice guy to keep putting up with some jerk (me)
who keeps asking him about the inside of his residence, took some time from his
day[4]
to once again answer questions from me about the inside of his house. The
thought that these may be the hotel keys caused me to want to know more about
the hotel rooms, like how many were there?
Seventeen. Seventeen rather small rooms. All of them were
on the second floor. So, how does that compare to the number of keys in the
collection?
31 keys. For each key (except the twins) there would have
been a lock and for each lock, one assumes, there would have been a door. So,
we need 28 doors (unless we are looking at padlock keys, then all bets are
off!). The keys break down as follows:
·
12 miscellaneous keys would equal 12 locks. One
of those keys was the one that I remembered because it was painted like the
door it opened on Grammy’s farm. This one probably was not a hotel key. Two
others, although not “twins”, sure look like they would open the same lock!
·
There are three sets of twins that ARE twins (6
keys but only three locks). These could have been from the hotel, possibly the
three internal doors on the first floor (discussed below).
·
Six 4” keys and seven 3.75” keys - both of these
sets could have been from the hotel; quite suitable for 13 of the lodging room
doors; quite possibly the thirteen rooms Abraham added when he built his
expansion onto George’s tavern.
So, how many DOORS?
·
Seventeen lodging rooms each with a door; 13 in
the addition built by Abraham in 1840 and four rooms on the second floor of the
original tavern built by George in 1820.
·
There was, of course, a front door (#18) and a
back door (#19).
·
Kevin and I did not discuss this but there could
easily have been doors between the first-floor rooms (see below) as well that
might have had locks with keys (#’s 20, 21, & 22).
That leaves nine for the farm, a more manageable number.
Along the front side (street side) of the front section
(newer section built by Abraham), were seven rooms. Although they varied
slightly in size from room to room, on average they were approximately 12’ street-wall
to hall and approximately 8.5’ side to side; so, long and narrow. A hallway ran
down the middle of the entire length of the building. Along
the back side of the front section were six rooms of similar dimensions arranged
three on each side of the staircase. Four more rooms were arranged around a
landing in the rear section (original structure built by George).
To help me visualize the floor-plan, Kevin drew some quick
sketches from memory. As you can see, we started with one too many rooms along
the front so scratched one off and there was a bit of discussion over how those
stairs did come up exactly. Kevin settled on the stairs up from the first floor
came to a landing where one could either head straight back into the rear
section to reach those four rooms; or turn right and right again to head into
the front section.
The first floor, street level, had a door placed just to
the right of middle. That door entered over a trapdoor to the basement. By the
way, if this trapdoor had a key, that would be #23. The trapdoor would be
opened if deliveries were being made that were sent to the basement and closed
for entry into the first floor. Kevin assumed the registration desk was to the
left of this trapdoor upon entry. A large room was to the right, perhaps
serving as a dining room. Passing through this “dining room” took you to a door
at the back that allowed you entrance into a room in the rear (older section).
From the main entry room, one could continue on up the staircase to the second
floor or turn left, go past the registration desk, past a second fireplace that was probably behind the registration desk, and into a large room on the
left. I do not recall discussing with Kevin how/where the chimney went up through the second floor. I assume the chimney was the reason Kevin drew room 10 larger than room nine on his diagram. This chimney can be seen in both photos of the building included at the end of this post. It appears to be just behind the roof peak in the 1908 photo. The original tavern chimney can also be seen on the back of the building in the 1908 photo. The tavern chimney was lost to a fire so does not appear in the photo marked "2020" (actually the photo was taken 2018).
The basement consisted of three rooms, a large room on
the right and a smaller room to the left in the “new” section (marked "2" and "3" on the diagram) and the original
tavern room in the back which, according to Kevin, probably served as the
kitchen for the hotel.
Kevin said that the big fireplace Nora mentions being
still in the house in the 1953 Drums Methodist Church booklet Drums
Methodist Church and Valley Notes [5]
is indeed still in the house. He marked it on the drawing of the basement level. He said
that he’d be glad to show it to me but he needed to move some materials that
were stacked in front of it out of the way. For a while I “bothered” him about seeing it, a lot. But these things take time. I would still like to see it, but it is,
after all, his house! I’m sure the “KEY” to seeing that fireplace is patience.
I’m grateful to Kevin for all he HAS done to help me “get
to know” the buildings my (OUR!) ancestors built.
Happy 200th Anniversary, Drums Hotel!! Long
may you stand.
Well, we've reached the end of this topic so it is time to go. You know what they say, when you gotta go, you gotta go. Join us for our next post
on August 11, 2020 if you want to know where the Drums went when they had to go. Yes I do mean "go". The post, after all, is called Potty Time.
[1]
Munsell on Butler Township, 1880, History of Freeland, PA, https://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/ct0u/munsell_butler.html
accessed 8/11/2016
[2] Elmer
died January 24, 1959. He was 63 years old.
[3] Pete
Medvecky interview conducted April 9, 2018
[4]
Kania, Kevin interview conducted 10/30/2018 in the Bird’s Nest Shoppe.
[5] Drum,
Nora, Miss; Mrs. R. S. Small, and Mrs. Millard Shelhamer, Drums
Methodist Church and Valley Notes (Drums, PA: St. Paul’s Methodist
Church, 1953)
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