Today, the Accomac Inn stands silent and imposing, its doors closed to the public since 2018. Its ancient stones are cloaked in the dark secrets of a blood-stained past. Nearby, the Susquehanna River flows quietly past, a silent witness as it has for countless millennia.
But 300 years ago, this site was one of many bustling ferry crossings that shuttled people across the ancient river. In 1730, James Anderson operated a ferry service traveling back and forth to Marietta.
The building was erected around 1775. It was initially called the Anderson’s Ferry Inn but eventually became the Accomac Inn. It served travelers and notable figures such as Marquis de Lafayette.
In the 1840s, Dr. Jacob Glatz acquired the ferry company along with the surrounding property, renaming it Glatz’s Ferry. By the late 1850s, entrepreneur John Noel had leased the operation of Glatz’s Ferry and enhanced its offerings by converting the sawmill into a pavilion, which he rented out for picnics, weddings, and various social gatherings. The ferry service experienced a resurgence in patronage between 1863 and 1867 after the Union militia burned the Columbia Bridge during the Gettysburg Campaign.
In 1864, John Coyle Sr. bought the inn and ferry service. In 1880, a young girl named Emily Myers was among the staff working as a domestic servant and milkmaid. Her presence would forever be etched into the fabric of the inn’s story. Emily was just sixteen, a bright and lively girl who had captured the unwelcome attention of John Coyle Jr., the troubled son of the inn’s owner.
John Jr., known to be slow-witted and sometimes drunk, became obsessively infatuated with Emily. He proposed to her repeatedly, each time meeting with her firm refusal.
On the fateful day of May 30, 1881, the barn became the stage for a tragedy that would haunt the inn forever. Agitated and possibly inebriated, Johnnie confronted Emily as she was milking a cow, demanding her hand in marriage.
“No, I’ll never marry you,” she replied.
The 26-year-old drew a pistol and shot her in the heart. Emily died instantly, her young life extinguished in a moment of senseless violence.
The community was outraged, and Johnnie was eventually captured after hiding in the nearby hills for ten days.
Johnnie’s trial caused quite a stir, becoming front-page news filled with sensational reports and emotional testimonies.
It was to no one’s surprise that the verdict was “guilty of murder in the first degree.” There was little sympathy for Johnnie as feelings ran high in the community against Johnnie Coyle for his seemingly cold-blooded murder of Emily despite his stated affliction of a “weak mind.” His attorneys asked for a change of venue to Gettysburg.
The courtroom in the second trial was crowded on March 5, 1883, when the jury, after three hours of deliberation, returned its verdict of “guilty of murder in the first degree.” After two trials and repeated attempts to appeal the decision, Johnnie was hanged in Gettysburg on April 22, 1884, before a crowd of over 300 people. His mother claimed the body and transported it back to the ferry property.
Emily is believed to be buried in an unmarked grave at the Marietta Cemetery next to her great-aunt Sarah Myers. So when Johnnie’s parents tried to have him buried at the Marietta Cemetery, the cemetery association refused them. They felt it improper for the victim and murderer to be buried in the same cemetery.
As a result, his parents buried him on their property at the ferry. His grave remains alone on the hill, buried about 50 feet south of the inn.
Six years later, in 1889, the Coyle family sold the ferry property and left the area. Around this same time, the estate became known as the Accomac Inn.
For many years, guests and staff reported hearing unexplained music and voices, witnessing objects move on their own, and enduring the slamming of doors and breaking of dishes. The most unsettling reports came from an upstairs storage room, where some claimed to have seen the apparitions of Emily and Johnnie. Perhaps it is for these reasons that the property has sat empty since 2018.
The Accomac at 6330 River Dr, York, PA 17406.
Adventure Awaits!
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