SILVER SPRING TWP., Pa. - Some preliminary work has begun on the tavern said to have hosted meetings that led to the creation of the Bill of Rights, which was partially demolished months ago.
Developers started demolition on the James Bell Tavern on Carlisle Pike in January, unaware of its place in history.
“If you know how they built it, then it could be put back together,” Kevin Hollowell, who is tasked with the restoration project, said Thursday. “What's left is very stable, but what's taken off is a substantial amount there. It's an interesting building; it has a lot of interesting elements.”
The history of the men involved in developing the Bill of Rights was the focus of a discussion Thursday at the Cumberland County Historical Society in Carlisle.
“That it is the indispensable duty of every citizen to use all lawful means to obtain such amendments in the Constitution and shall be judged necessary for securing religion and liberty,” a local student named Cooper read, from the minutes of the meetings held at Bell’s Tavern.
Religion and liberty sound a lot like the First Amendment,” he added.
“So what was actually discussed there was the amendments for the United States Constitution,” Christine Musser, president of the Patriots of Captain Bell’s Tavern, said.
Workers have spent the last few days clearing rubble and building temporary walls to keep one of the remaining corners from caving in, and will put in a wall Friday to keep the roof upright as the community awaits a decision on restoring the tavern.
“There's not as much interest in restoration right now as there was,” Hollowell said generally about restoration projects nationally. “But you have to be careful to preserve what we still have or it's all going to be gone.”
The preliminary work of securing the building and covering the exposed area should be complete by next week.