Chestertown
White Swan Tavern
Joseph Nicholson built its front after buying the High Street lot in 1733; one of the six rooms is shoemaker John Lovegrove's earlier one-room house.
- Built
- c. 1733Joseph Nicholson built the house that forms the front of the present building after buying the lot in 1733; the earlier one-room dwelling of shoemaker John Lovegrove survives as the Lovegrove Kitchen guest room. John Bordley enlarged it for tavern use after 1793.
- Type
- Inn
- Rooms
- 6
- Credentials
- Inside a National Register historic district
The story
The first building on the lot was the one-room dwelling of John Lovegrove, Chestertown’s shoemaker and tanner; Joseph Nicholson bought the property in 1733 and built his house on it. Nicholson served on the Committee of Correspondence and helped found Washington College in 1782. John Bordley acquired the property in 1793 and enlarged it for tavern use, and it operated as a tavern under various keepers from 1803 to 1853, then passed to merchant Thomas W. Eliason. The Havemeyer family bought it from the Eliason family in 1978, restored it to its 1793 appearance after an archaeological dig, and reopened it to guests in March 1981.
Good to know
- Breakfast: included
- Address: 231 High Street, Chestertown, MD 21620
Sources (2)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.