Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
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Source: January 1991 Volume 29 Number 1, Pages 11–12


Prissy Robinson's Grave

Mary Robertson Ives

Page 11

As you travel east on Route 30 from Paoli and turn left under the railroad bridge at the Daylesford station, the road rises for about one block and then divides. Russell Road runs to the west and the Old Lancaster Road goes to the east, and there in front of you is a pretty white house, tall and narrow and trimmed in blue.

This is the former Blue Ball Tavern, established in the late 1700s and said to have been the site of some strange goings-on.

In the early 1800s, after the tavern had been in her family for a number of years, the notorious Priscilla Moore Robinson became the inn keeper. Stories about "Prissy" Robinson and the mysterious disappearance of her three husbands, as well as some of her guests at the inn, are well known and have been told many times in articles in regional magazines, local newspapers, and even in books. [Note 1]

But in the telling and re-telling of the stories over the years, several discrepancies have arisen, especially with regard to the date of her death and the location of her grave.

Page 12

Perhaps surprisingly -- in view of her reputation -- she is buried in the cemetery of the Great Valley Presbyterian Church. While looking for something else in the cemetery recently, I came across her grave. It is up on a hill, near the center of Lot 203 in the section known as the "old" cemetery, and is apparently the only grave in the lot.

That she lived to be 100 years old is now not only tradition, but also verified and attested to by the inscription on her tombstone. The inscription also indicates that the name of her first husband was not, as usually reported, Edward Robinson, but rather Edward Robison. (As to the alleged "goings-on" at the inn, there is no record on the stone!)

The inscription on the small limestone tombstone reads

Priscilla Robison Cahill
Born March 12, 1777
Died September 3, 1877

1. Versions of the tales can also be found in "Five Tales for All Hallow's Even" in the October 1979 issue [Volume XVII, Number 4] and "Tales of Local Taverns" in the April 1985 issue [Volume XXIII, Number 2] of the Quarterly.

 
 

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