13. The Lemon House and tavern
Employees of the Allegheny Portage Railroad worked long hours, regardless of the jobs they held. They included animal handlers and stable operators; locomotive engineers, coal handlers, and boiler maintenance men. Trackmen walked the rails and conducted maintenance. Cargo handlers and boatmen worked on the waterfront. Carpenters and stonemasons built and maintained structures. Couplers connected the cars and boats to the hauling cables. Most lived within walking distance to where they worked. Taverns and inns were located at intervals along the 36-mile portage. One, the Lemon House, was both a residence for its owner and a resort to travelers and workers.
Built of stone on the eastern side of the portage, the Lemon House contained a substantial dining room, a barroom, and a lady’s lounge, among other amenities. The latter indicates it catered to upscale clientele, since women of society in the mid-19th century did not socialize in barrooms, which were the province of men. The Lemon House (named for its owner, not the fruit) drew patrons from both the portage and the nearby wagon road known as the Northern Turnpike. In 1966 the National Park Service acquired the property and restored it to its appearance in the 1840s, opening it to visitors through most of the warm months of the year.