Penn’s Tavern

History & local legend

Penn’s Tavern stands beside the Susquehanna at Fishers Ferry, south of Sunbury, where travelers once crossed the river by ferry. Its ghost lore includes a group of four soldiers said to drink and laugh together at the bar. A separate figure, a woman in a long, dark red dress, has been described as searching for something there.

An upstairs room belongs to another tavern legend, this one involving John Penn, a grandson of Pennsylvania’s founder William Penn. The story says a woman John loved was taken to Canada and separated from him. Years later, they met again in a room above the tavern, but the reunion came too late: she died in his arms.