The story
The General Wayne Inn stood in service at Merion, on Philadelphia's Main Line, from 1704 — among the country's oldest continuously operating inns through its long run — renamed for Anthony Wayne after the Revolution, hosting Washington and Lafayette in the war years and, famously, Edgar Allan Poe, who is said to have worked on 'The Raven' at its tables in 1843. Its haunted fame grew across the 20th century: staff and diners described Hessian soldiers of the occupation winters — one nicknamed 'Wilhelm' — figures in colonial dress, moved glasses and cellar voices, and the inn appeared in national hauntings lore. Its final restaurant chapter ended in real tragedy: in 1996 co-owner James Webb was murdered in the building, a crime for which his partner was convicted — stated here plainly, with restraint and respect for the dead. The landmark was later acquired by a synagogue community, which restored it for religious and community use, ending public inn access. Present the inn's lore as its restaurant-era telling, the murder as sober fact, and current access as changed.