The Entler Hotel

The Entler hotel had twenty-four rooms, nineteen fireplaces, three cellars and three kitchens in 1824. It was known as “Daniel Entler’s Tavern” until the mid-nineteenth century, later the name was shortened to “Entler Hotel.” The demand and necessity of taverns was significantly high during the colonial period. Hotels and taverns in the colonial towns were used for multiple purposes like means of directions for travelers, place to stay, eat, drink, and entertain. It was not merely limited to leisure and sociability, but was used for overnight accommodation, business gatherings between farmers, artisans, and town merchants, meeting places for assemblies and courts, and democratic venues of debate and discussion. By 1809, Entler Hotel started supplying overnight accommodation to travelers. The Entler hotel was used for town council meetings and elections around 1811. On December 14, 1898, the Entler received one of the first two telephones installed in Shepherdstown and it was used as the center for information exchange and venues in government operation, which represents the rise of the hotel as an institution that epitomized the inevitable rise of the modern era.

Courtesy of Historic Shepherdstown Museum

The Entler Hotel also served as a hospital where surgical procedures were performed on confederate soldiers after the battle of Antietam in September of 1862. Not only was Entler hotel used as a hospital, but it quartered the Union soldiers during the year-old war II a for U.S Navy and Airforce cadets training at Shepherd. Moreover, it was home to the Shepherdstown Red Sox, a semi-pro baseball team and a brothers of harmony gospel choir who performed throughout the area. The gradual evolution of the Entler Hotel occurred throughout the nineteenth century with the gradual change in needs of the public. Entler hotel as a commercial hospitality site at Shepherdstown in colonial era undoubtedly helped to accelerate the development of the town by serving the needs of workers, government officials, travelers, confederate soldiers, students at Shepherd College, convincing the settlers that Shepherdstown was hospitable. It influenced the social and economic life of every class and became the site of modernization which was found at the leading edge of epochal transformations.

Courtesy of Historic Shepherdstown Museum

The Entler hotel (Historic Shepherdstown Museum) gives scholars a topic to research, allows them to analyze the landmarks and artifacts that aids the advancement of their existing knowledge and broaden their intellectual horizon, helps students to experience effective ways of learning historical events and get in-depth information. Learning and researching aside, the Entler Hotel has created job opportunities for aspiring professionals like Archivists, conservationists. Besides being the backbone of development of the community, its presence has formed a friendly neighborhood, inspired, and driven local businesspeople to promote local ingredients, arts, culture, promoted tourism, and preserved local culture.