{"nrhp_refnum":"95001352","name":"Colley, Abel, Tavern","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"US 40, approximately 0.5 mi. W of Searights Crossroads, Menallen Township","address_restricted":false,"city":"Searights Crossroads","county":"Fayette County","state":"PA","lat":39.95946399700006,"lon":-79.81658288799997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1995-11-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A five-bay, double-pile, two-and-a-half-story brick tavern with a kitchen ell, located on U.S. Route 40 (the National Road) just west of Searights Crossroads in Menallen Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. It was built about 1835.","why_significant":"The tavern is significant for its association with the commercial development of the National Road in the early nineteenth century and for its vernacular Greek Revival architecture. It retains typical tavern features such as a separate barroom door, former corner benches, and second-floor rooms that can be joined into a dance hall. The building is one of only two documented surviving National Road taverns in Menallen Township.","narrative":"Built about 1835 on the National Road west of Searights Crossroads in Menallen Township, Fayette County, this five-bay, double-pile brick tavern faces the highway from a rise about forty feet back. Its large size, paired chimneys, and two front doors identify it as a tavern, and one door opens directly into the former barroom. Abel Colley, who ran the business as owner-operator, was assessed as an innkeeper from 1837 through 1852, a period when innkeepers earned considerably more than farmers and craftsmen. The second-floor rooms, which can be opened into one large space, are said to have hosted dances. The house shows Greek Revival influence in its narrow sidelights, transom lights, and low roof pitch, and it retains much of its interior woodwork. It is one of about thirty National Road taverns identified as eligible for listing and one of two surviving in Menallen Township.","period_of_significance":"C. 1835 - C. 1852","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"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 17:11:37.707332-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/95001352.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95001352/21a8e3aa76-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95001352/21a8e3aa76-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Generic1139","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Able_Colley_Tavern.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Generic1139</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:Able_Colley_Tavern.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992916","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel_Colley_Tavern","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4666547"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/fayette-county/colley-abel-tavern-95001352/"}