{"nrhp_refnum":"78002344","name":"Kemp's Hotel","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"E of Kutztown on US 222, Maxatawny Township","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kutztown","county":"Berks County","state":"PA","lat":40.529971654000065,"lon":-75.76304868499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-12-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two and one-half story limestone hotel and public house about one-quarter mile northeast of Kutztown in Berks County, Pennsylvania, on the Old Easton Road (Route 222). The original east section dates from circa 1795, with a stone addition of circa 1852 and a rear one-story stone wing.","why_significant":"The nomination describes it as one of the oldest hotels in Berks County and a long-recognized local landmark, serving travelers on the Easton to Reading road for nearly two centuries. It is associated with the Levan and Kemp families who operated it, and with notable lodgers including John Adams, Judge Francis Dana and William Ellery.","narrative":"Kemp's Hotel is a limestone inn on the Old Easton Road, about a quarter mile northeast of Kutztown, in Berks County. Its oldest section, at the east end, bears a datestone reading George Kemp, 1795, and the hotel has taken in travelers for nearly two centuries. A stone addition of about 1852 extends the building to the west, and a one-story stone wing lies at the rear. The site's operation as a tavern is traced to Daniel Levan, who is listed among Maxatawny's most prosperous taxpayers in 1754 and was described as a taverner in 1767. His son-in-law George Kemp bought the hotel in 1785 and ran it for 53 years, serving as a justice of the peace for 34 years and a county commissioner from 1821 to 1824. His son John Kemp later kept the hotel until he was 89, and the business prospered enough to fund the 1852 addition. Among its recorded lodgers were John Adams, Judge Francis Dana and William Ellery, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.","period_of_significance":"1795-1852","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:31.102451-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/78002344.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002344/0889a21502-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002344/0889a21502-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"PattiParker","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kemp%27s_Hotel.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">PattiParker</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kemp%27s_Hotel.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996052","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemp%27s_Hotel","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6386993"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/berks-county/kemps-hotel-78002344/"}