Standing near the Washington Road/Route 1 traffic circle, just behind the AT&T store, is an unassuming structure. Part of the Princeton Baptist Church property, it looks like just an old house.
However, this is not any ordinary building — it was, for generations, an early-1800s tavern serving the historic “Penns Neck” community (the neighborhood bisected by Washington Road).
It is also one of the few sites in town listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This is a brief story of the Red Lion Inn.
This building has multiple bedrooms, two separate staircases, and a slightly off-center stair hall, presumably to provide more room for public gatherings on the ground floor.
Its attic is unusually roomy and accessible, suggesting that it may have hosted less-discerning guests who wanted to save a few pennies when staying the night. In the basement are beams with bark still on them, and several fireplaces historically heated various rooms on each floor.
The inn was constructed around 1807 by William Kovenhoven, who five years later also donated an adjacent plot of land for the purpose of constructing the Princeton Baptist Church. Inns and churches often operated side-by-side as centers of spiritual, social, and political life, and this was no different.
Kovenhoven’s inn was originally located directly at the eastern corner of the crossroads of Route 1 and Washington Road, facing Route 1. At the time, there was no traffic circle, and both roads were dirt farm lanes.
The first known innkeeper was John Joline, who successfully applied for a tavern license in December 1807. He seems to have been succeeded by George Follet. Both Joline and Follet also owned popular taverns in Princeton and were known for “(dispensing) hospitality and good cheer.”
Follet is said to have hung the sign depicting a red lion outside of each of his inns; thus, although no proof exists that he, specifically, called his Penns Neck tavern the Red Lion Inn, it was certainly referred to by this name in the late part of the same century.
In 1808, the West Windsor Township Committee, which had previously solely met in the Dutch Neck neighborhood a few miles way, also began meeting in the Penns Neck inn, and would continue to do so on and off for the next several decades.
A list of other innkeepers during this time are said to have included: Kenneth Dey, Elijah Davison, Major Gilbert Giberson, Asher Temple, a man named Donaldson, a widow with the last name of “Jackson,” James Davison, and others.
Some of these individuals also managed a competitor inn across the road (see: WestWindsorHistory.com/GibersonsTavern).
In 1819, William Kovenhoven formally sold the Red Lion Inn to Asher Temple, a West Windsor Constable. In 1827, due to unpaid debts, his property was seized by Middlesex County and sold to Gooden Hall.
However, Hall appears to have permitted Temple to remain as innkeeper. Temple also sponsored horse racing in the area. Around this time, the establishment was called the White Horse Tavern.
In 1838, Hall sold the property to William Woodmanse. Following him in ownership were:
1. Voorhes Kovenhoven (starting 1842).
2. Ralph Kovenhoven (starting 1843).
3. Joseph and Sara Taylor (Starting 1848).
4. John S. Cocks (Starting 1852).
5. Wlliam M. Cocks (Starting 1852).
6. Uriah Bosenbury (Starting 1853).
7. Margaret Bosenbury and Henry Trout (starting 185?).
8. Henry Dunn (starting 1855).
9. Margaret and William Wyckoff (starting 1855).
10. John V. D. Konover (starting 1868).
11. Susan and Israel Pierson (starting 1869).
In 1873, the Piersons swapped their inn with that of Noah Reed, who owned the long-gone Princessville Inn (Lawrence Township). Within the next six years, however, Reed was dead, and the inn presumably shuttered.
In 1879, Reed’s estate sold the property to the Princeton Baptist Church, which had long viewed it as a source of “corruption” of the neighborhood’s youth. Its earlier role as a center of community life, elections, auctions, and more had ended under changing times.
The church, undergoing a revitalization of its own, converted the former inn into a parsonage (i.e., an office/home for the pastor). The pastor at the time, L. O. Grenelle, wrote that “this is the next best thing the Church as ever done, (next) to the erection of the house of worship.”
Sometime in the early 1900s, shingles were placed over the parsonage’s clapboard siding. In 1925, it was divided into two duplex apartments.
After Rev. Charles Fredericks arrived in 1927, a furnace and bathroom were added. Perhaps most notably, in 1929, improvements to Route 1 necessitated moving the parsonage about 150 feet southeast, to its current location.
In 1989, the old Red Lion Inn was accepted into the National Register of Historic Places, along with most of the rest of the Princeton Baptist Church property. And just three years ago, in 2022, and after several years of renovations, the building was repurposed as housing (albeit still owned by the Princeton Baptist Church). It remains one of Penns Neck’s – and West Windsor’s -most historically-significant sites.
To learn more about historic Penns Neck, visit: WestWindsorHistory.com/PennsNeck
The Historical Society is an all-volunteer nonprofit; all our volunteers donate their free time to document and promote our Township’s history.
There is a lot to celebrate, but we can’t do it without your support. Please consider volunteering and/or donating to help us grow and expand our impact. To learn more, visit: westwindsorhistory.com.
Paul Ligeti is the president of the Historical Society of West Windsor.
