Haunted hotel guide · Lahaska, Pennsylvania

The Haunted Golden Plough Inn, Peddler's Village: The Postmaster, Room 202 and a Voice in the Dark

A country inn built around a 19th century stagecoach tavern, where staff say the town’s first postmaster still makes his rounds and an empty room once asked them, “What do you want?”

By The Haunted Rooms Team · Updated November 2026 · How we rate hotels

3.2/5Haunted Rooms Score
1987Inn opened
Room 202Most requested room

Visit hotel websiteMeet the ghosts

The Golden Plough Inn is the hotel at Peddler’s Village in Lahaska, a 42-acre village of shops, restaurants and gardens in the heart of Bucks County, about 10 minutes from New Hope and an hour from Philadelphia. Its 67 rooms and suites are spread between the Main Inn, which grew out of a mid-1800s stone tavern on the old stagecoach road between New York and Philadelphia, and converted buildings around the village.

Most people come for the shopping, the seasonal festivals and the comfortable rooms. But Peddler’s Village is unusual in that it publishes its own ghost stories, and the inn is at the center of them, from a postmaster who never stopped working to a dark figure in the second-floor hallway outside Room 202. Here is what staff and investigators have reported, and how to ask for the room. For more in the area see our guide to haunted hotels near Philadelphia.

Golden Plough Inn at a glance

3.2/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation3
History3
Ghost hunter access4
$$ · $150 to $300Haunted room bookableHotel embraces its ghosts
  • Address 5886 Lower York Road (Route 202 and Street Road), Lahaska, PA 18938
  • Built Mid-1800s stone tavern; opened as an inn in 1987 with ten rooms, expanded to nearly 70 by 1998
  • Most haunted spots Room 202 and the second-floor hallway, the lobby and Room 123; the Cock ‘n Bull restaurant next door
  • Best-known ghosts Thomas Betts, Lahaska’s first postmaster, and a dark male figure outside Room 202
  • Booking the haunted room Ask for Room 202 by number when you book. Requests are not guaranteed.
  • Good to know Rooms are in the Main Inn and in buildings around Peddler’s Village; breakfast is at the Buttonwood Grill. The village is busiest at weekends and during its fall and holiday festivals.

Visit hotel website

The ghosts of Golden Plough Inn at Peddler's Village

Thomas Betts, the postmaster

Lahaska’s first post office opened in March 1844, and Peddler’s Village says its first postmaster was Thomas Betts. Staff and visitors believe he is still making his rounds, and that he passes through the inn’s lobby on the way.

There is no particular reason in the records why a postmaster should linger here, and the village tells the story with a smile. But it is the name staff reach for when something odd happens in the lobby.

The coffee stirrers

One night auditor stepped away from the front desk and came back to find coffee stirrers laid out in a neat line across the lobby floor, running from the coffee station to the desk and ending exactly where a guest would stand to check in. Staff also report calls to the front desk from rooms that are empty, and lights and televisions switching on by themselves.

Room 202

The inn’s best-known story belongs to Room 202 on the second floor. Guests have reported a dark figure of a man standing at the end of the hallway outside the room. According to Peddler’s Village, staff once heard loud noise from Room 202 while it was empty and found the television on. When they went in to switch it off, a deep voice asked, “What do you want?” They locked the room and left.

It is a story, told by the village itself, and nobody has explained who the voice might belong to. It has made Room 202 the room ghost seekers ask for.

Room 123 and the investigators

In February 2020 a guest reported seeing a full-body apparition in Room 123 and contacted Bucks County Paranormal Investigations. Investigator Eric Mintel wrote for Visit Bucks County that the team met the village’s assistant director of sales, who told them about ongoing activity over the years that “can’t be explained,” and then investigated the inn on camera.

Next door at the Cock 'n Bull

The village’s flagship restaurant has ghosts of its own. In the Twinings dining room, a playful little girl is said to move silverware and mix up table settings, and the same presence is said to run along the second-floor halls, now offices. A woman in colonial dress has been seen in the basement near Peddler’s Pub, and staff say she meddles with the pub’s locks until someone acknowledges her.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • Room 202: On the second floor, where guests have seen a dark figure in the hallway and staff heard a voice in an empty room. The one to ask for.
  • Room 123: Where a guest reported a full-body apparition in February 2020, which led to a paranormal investigation.
  • The lobby: Thomas Betts’s supposed route, and the scene of the coffee stirrer story.
  • The Cock 'n Bull: A short walk across the village, with a little girl in the Twinings room and a woman in colonial dress near the pub.

History of Golden Plough Inn at Peddler's Village

Lahaska grew up around the Buckingham Friends Meeting House, founded by English Quakers in 1701. By the 1800s it had about fifteen houses, a store, a hotel, a coach factory and a few shops along the old York Road, the stagecoach route between New York and Philadelphia. The building at the heart of the Golden Plough began as a two-story stone tavern in the mid-1800s, serving stagecoach drivers and their passengers. The village’s post office opened in March 1844.

In 1962 Earl Jamison bought a run-down chicken farm in Lahaska, nicknamed Hentown, and began turning its barn and coops into shops and restaurants in the style of earlier centuries. That became Peddler’s Village, which now covers 42 acres with dozens of shops, restaurants, gardens and a restored 1922 carousel. The old stone tavern was remodeled and expanded along the way; a 1970 painting shows it as the Buttonwood Inn, an earlier incarnation of today’s building.

The Golden Plough Inn opened in 1987 with ten overnight rooms. By 1998 nearly 60 more had been added, many created by converting second-story shop spaces around the village into guest rooms, which is why rooms are scattered across several buildings rather than all under one roof. Today the inn has 67 rooms and suites, and breakfast is served at the Buttonwood Grill.

The ghost stories have been gathered by the village itself, by the Bucks County Herald’s History Lives column, and by Bucks County Paranormal Investigations, who investigated after the Room 123 report in 2020 and again during an October 2020 investigation the village has shared online.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • Ask for Room 202 when you book, and say why: staff are used to the request.
  • Visit on a weekday if you want a quiet evening; Peddler’s Village is busy at weekends and during its fall and holiday events.
  • Have dinner at the Cock ‘n Bull and ask for the Twinings room, home of the village’s little girl ghost.
  • New Hope is 10 minutes away: pair your stay with a drink at the Logan Inn and a walk past the Aaron Burr House and Wedgwood Inn.
  • Book early for October, when the village leans into Halloween.

Want to investigate, not just sleep?

Sleeping in a haunted hotel is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through the building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and lets you explore on your own during free roam.

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Frequently asked questions

Is the Golden Plough Inn haunted?

Peddler’s Village says so itself. Staff report a postmaster’s ghost in the lobby, calls from empty rooms, lights and TVs switching on, and a dark figure outside Room 202. These are staff and guest reports, not proven events.

What is the haunted room at the Golden Plough Inn?

Room 202, on the second floor. Guests have reported a dark male figure in the hallway outside it, and staff say a deep voice asked “What do you want?” when they went in to switch off a television in the empty room. Room 123 has also had a reported apparition.

Who is the ghost at Peddler's Village?

The best-known is Thomas Betts, said to be Lahaska’s first postmaster, who staff believe still walks through the inn’s lobby. The Cock ‘n Bull restaurant has a little girl and a woman in colonial dress.

How old is the Golden Plough Inn?

The main building began as a two-story stone tavern in the mid-1800s, a stagecoach stop between New York and Philadelphia. It opened as the Golden Plough Inn in 1987.

How many rooms does the Golden Plough Inn have?

67 rooms and suites, in the Main Inn and in converted buildings around Peddler’s Village.

How far is Peddler's Village from Philadelphia?

Lahaska is about 35 miles north of Center City, roughly an hour by car, and about 10 minutes from New Hope.

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

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About the authors

The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.

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