James Burk's Inn

Merry Christmas from the Burk Inn! We hope your day is filled with love and all things wonderful.

This chapter of Helen Ireland Hays’ book Heritage was simply too good not to share. (First time doing this solo and the light kept dimming on me lol). Hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Have a good evening!

Lots of lovely wreaths just waiting for good homes! Stop on by, we are here until 4p!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Inn!!! Hope your day is filled with love and yummy food! We are grateful for so many things- especially having all of you as friends!

The things you find in the basement...must have walked past this nearly a hundred times and never noticed it. Thanks to the keen eye of Bradley Luberto this came to our attention...and it connects some dots for us. It’s just a board from an old crate...well that is what whoever it was that used it to repair a hole in the basement wall must have thought. To us...it is a connection. If you look for information on the Burk Inn, postcards often call it the Black Horse Tavern... which it never was. In fact, the Black Horse did exist, but several streets away. So what happened? Well, it is an amusing and sweet story actually- Susannah Younglove, the last member of the family to reside at the Burk, was a lady of many talents with painting and handicrafts being at the top of the list. She actually ran a gift shop out of the Inn. After she was overheard lamenting the lack of a sign for her establishment, some family members (Yanney was their last name and they owned the actual Black Horse) decided to come to her aid and generously offered up the sign from the Black Horse. Well Susannah was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth (I know, I know insert groan here), so she accepted and hung it out. So you can see where this is going...the sign (if you enlarge the postcard you can actually see it) made an impression and gave the Burk a new name . The fact that this board has all the right info on it to answer our questions is fantastic- we have the right person’s name at the correct address...with the ‘wrong’ establishment name ... BUT the part that brought it all together for me (and I admit made me way too excited lol) is that it doesn’t just say ‘Black Horse Inn it says Black Horse Inn Gift Shop. Is this where I say mic drop? I do believe thanks are in order to whoever it was that decided frugality was the best way...they unknowingly saved a pretty neat piece of history. Happy Tuesday!!! All the best from the Burk Inn! See more

This is a terrible tragedy for our friends at Fort Klock- and actually a great loss for us all. Please share and share again, so we can catch these people and get that cannon back!

Some more about Irving and the Horseman to get you in the mood for Halloween!

For those of you who were able to join us for our virtual event tonight, you will have heard me mention Thomas Gordon Ward and his song Horseman. Thomas is a dear friend , amazing musician, and a great teacher of history. He was slated to play a concert at the Burk this year, but due to COVID concerns, we have had to reschedule. Here’s to an even bigger and better 2021. And this song ...well let’s just say I could play it on a loop for hours and still love it just as much...! Check out his other music on YouTube and his Facebook page! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c53XFik3XBQ Sweet dreams!