Colonel John Rodgers (1726-1791), the patriarch of this Naval family who fought in the Revolutionary War had emigrated from Scotland and married his wife, Elizabeth (1742-1816), from Delaware in 1764. They were among the first settlers to arrive in “Susquehanna Lower Ferry,” as the town was then called, now Havre de Grace. In 1785, John and Elizabeth Rogers were the highest bidders on this “land and tenements” formerly owned by Thomas McCleary and Abraham Huff. The court had ordered Sheriff Robert Amos to sell the property. It was only two years after the sale that George Washington recorded in his diary that he dined with Rodgers in 1787. John and Elizabeth operated an inn and tavern here (as well as a ferry) until John’s death in 1791, after which the property was deeded in Elizabeth’s name.

John and Elizabeth had four daughters and four sons, the eldest of whom they named John Rodgers (1772-1838). He became a commodore in the United States Navy who, in the War of 1812, captained the frigate USS President and captured 23 ships. He served under six Presidents for nearly four decades during the Navy’s formative years in the 1790s through the late 1830s. Many of the commodore’s sons and grandsons served in the Navy with distinction also. Since 1900, five active Rear Admirals in the Navy were members of the Rodgers family of Havre de Grace.

This house and lot were deeded to Elizabeth Reynolds Rodgers, widow of Colonel Rodgers, in 1802. During the attack by the British in May 1813, the building was damaged by fire but it was later repaired. Its most important historic attribute is ownership by the Rodgers family of U.S. Navy fame for about 100 years (until 1881). The old house also provides a clue to the aspirations of early town promoters—there are no windows on the south and north elevations suggesting that high-density town development was anticipated very early in Havre de Grace's history.

In the 1890s, this building was owned by Otho Green, who ran a “general merchandise” store here, after which he sold the building to Isaac Hecht (1864-1913) in 1901. Hecht was best known for having built the Hecht Hotel at Green and North Adams Streets about 10 years earlier and owned other properties in town. After Hecht’s sudden death, Elizabeth Hecht sold this property to their friends, Leon and Sophia Hoffman. Leon was well-known locally and was elected by the Havre de Grace Hospital Board of Directors in 1923 to serve as Secretary, with Leo Moore (of The Record) as Treasurer. Shortly after Leon Hoffman’s death in 1930, and under the management of Sophia Hoffman, the ground level of the building became Read’s Drug Store (Read Drug and Chemical Co.).

Read’s Drug Store occupied the ground level for many years, with an apartment above it. Ermalee Hall McCauley recalls serving 15¢ sandwiches at the lunch counter in 1943, where locals also ordered fries, hamburgers, cherry cokes, ice cream floats, and “chocolate sodas” (Coca-Cola with chocolate syrup). And Terri Swam remembers Reads as the meeting place of her parents in 1946.

Some locals still remember that black customers had to order and sit at the rear end of the counter right into the 1960s so if a white person went in with a black friend to order the same thing, they had to go to different ends of the counter. Read’s also had separate restrooms for blacks and whites into the early 1960s. Adults today say that as kids they “didn’t understand it” but it didn’t divide them. While people ate, they enjoyed playing music on the 1939 Rockola juke box. Read’s staff are fondly remembered, such as Emma McRoberts and her hot fudge sundaes, Helen Nagy, Dorothy Tarquini, and Bill Griffith—who worked there from 1963-1966 when he left to serve in Vietnam. He was welcomed back to Read’s in 1968.

When Barbara Bradley worked at Read’s in 1960, the pay was $.75 an hour; by 1964, Patricia Tidwell made $1.10 an hour; and in 1975, Brenda Hall Wettig was paid $2.00 an hour. Read’s carried many practical as well as gift items, described by Arlene Grace as “a little bit of everything.” Bill Griffith’s wife, Edith, fondly remembers the “Arpege by Lanvin” perfume that Bill gave her one year.

Read’s closed in 1974, the same year that Sophia Hoffman’s two surviving daughters, Bessie H. Marcus and Marian H. Kramer, sold the building (they had taken over in 1954 when their mother died). Rite Aid then opened a drug store in the space for about six years.

The building was purchased in November 1980 by the late local historian and retired mathematician, Ellsworth Shank, and his wife, Madelyn Mitchell Shank (daughter of renowned decoy carver, R. Madison Mitchell). They did a major rehabilitation of the building as a tavern, preserving what they could, that took several months and named it “Rodgers House Tavern.” They were helped in the renovation by Mitchell Shank, (son of Ellsworth and Madelyn), and Mitch Mitchell, (brother of Madelyn M. Shank), who did detailed research on the original building and Rodgers family in the Library of Congress. They were excited to learn that President George Washington made reference in his diaries to having eaten there. A portrait of Colonel John Rodgers hung on the wall in the Tavern’s front room for many years.

There is a two-story apartment above the tavern with a side hall plan, open string stairs, and a ramped walnut handrail rising to the third floor. The Shanks moved into this apartment in 1985, in time to open it for the 1985 Annual Candlelight Tour. Madelyn Shank had hung period curtains to emphasize the 18th century aspect of the building. Her many collections, including Wedgwood, Cloisonné and doll house, and an eight-foot revolving Christmas tree covered with silver ornaments, were on view. She loved living in the apartment but the stairs became too challenging for her and they had to move.

In 1994, the tavern closed and the ground floor became Tony’s Sudden Image, operated by Tony Vincenti, a 4,000-square-foot barber shop and beauty salon featuring toning and exercise equipment. In addition, their gift shop sold decorative waterfowl and hand-carved decoys. About ten years later the Vincentis sold the building to Mary L. Russell of Perryville. A new tenant was The Billiard Club Sports Bar and Grill, with pool tables in the rear, and run for several years by the late Wayne Meinschein, Jr.

In April 2019, Mary L. Russell deeded this building to “Rogers House LLC” of Perryville (note that the spelling “Rogers” is from the deed). Russ and Marigot Miller of Abbey Burger Bistro opened a new restaurant on the ground floor in July 2021.

County Records
Built 1788. 6224 sq ft, tavern. 5600 sq ft lot.