History
The Stone Barn has been owned and operated by the Thomforde family for four generations. In 1922, Charles Thomforde established a working farm, planted an apple orchard, and kept honey bees.
In 1958, his son Harold Thomforde began a catering service specializing in chicken barbecues. As business grew, Harold and his wife Elinor began the conversion of the old barn structure (c. 1800s) into a restaurant in 1962. Renovations were made using reclaimed antique brick, weathered cypress boards, and native fieldstone from old building ruins in the nearby countryside. Renovations were completed, and The Stone Barn opened in the spring of 1968.
The Mill was constructed in 1978 in a style to complement the Main Barn. It features a water wheel built with parts recovered from an old mill on the Schuylkill River.
Today, the Thomforde family continues The Stone Barn’s 55 year tradition of hospitality and service.
This rendering by Ruth Thomforde Seegers depicts The Stone Barn in 1968 before the addition of the Hunt Room
Founder Harold Thomforde shows his holiday fruit baskets containing apples grown in the original Stone Barn Orchard. (circa 1960)
The Foxfire King was written and illustrated by Harold's sister Mary & her husband Richard Lewis. It was the title of this children's book that inspired the name of the restaurant.
This clay tablet was sculpted in 1903 by Francis C. Pyle, an early owner of The Stone Barn farm, which was found during the renovation of the barn and is now displayed in the main entrance.