At a tavern where he alighted he met a hoary-headed guest who invited him within, calling him the “honorable proprietor.” That night he rested at Brooke’s tavern and very much admired the sign, which was a striking likeness of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, painted by George Rutter (Ritter), a noted sign painter of that period. He then called on Frederick A. Muhlenberg, Speaker of the last Assembly.
As Penn drew near Reading he was questioned by a person concerning a manor of which he was the owner. This was Penn’s Mount, at that time on the eastern limits of the town. Penn thought Reading was finely situated. He dined on catfish with Abraham Whitman, the only tavern keeper who had not voted against the confirmation of the proprietary estate. He visited a ferry, still belonging to him, and from there went to a farm “belonging to the proprietors,” which he determined to divide and sell in smaller parcels.
Penn paid a visit to Angelica, the beautiful farm belonging to General Thomas Mifflin, situated a few miles from Reading. A neighbor of General Mifflin’s, who attracted Penn’s attention, was “one of the marrying Dunkers, who live in their own houses like other countrymen, but wear their beards long.”
Penn tarried here until the 9th, then went to Womelsdorf, passing on the way one place that was “remarkable for its European appearance.” He then rode through Lebanon, “a handsome town containing some hundred inhabitants.” The horses were “baited” at Millerstown.
About sunset Penn caught his first glimpse of the Susquehanna “flowing between its wooded and cultivated banks close to the town” of Harrisburg.
Penn adds: “Mr. Harris, the owner and founder of the town, informed me that three years ago there was but one house built and seemed to possess pride and pleasure in his success.
“Though the courts are held here generally, Lebanon is infinitely larger. The situation of this place is one of the finest I ever saw. One good point of view is the tavern, almost close to the river. It is called the Compass, and is one of the first public houses in Pennsylvania. The room I had is twenty-two feet square and high in proportion.”
After breakfast on the morning of April 11 Penn and John Harris walked to the ferry and had a thrilling experience while ferrying across the river, and on account of the high water and swift current they were carried far out of their course.
About two miles west of the river they passed the home of Robert Whitehill, the Assemblyman, and about 3 o’clock in the afternoon they reached the town of Carlisle.
The first buildings seen were three or four separate wings, intended for magazines originally, but granted by Congress to the trustees of Dickinson College for twenty years. The Reverend Charles Nisbet, D. D., was then at the head of the institution.