Brinton Lodge
Also known as Covatta's Brinton Lodge, the Lodge was run as a gentleman's club for many years prior to being turned into a restaurant by the Covatta family. it had been a private residence for many years when Caleb D. Brinton purchased it about 1927. In 1972, the flood waters resulting form Hurricance Agnes wiped out Brinton's investment as there was no flood insurance on the property. Brinton died in October of 1974 and is rumored to be one of the several ghosts that haunt the property. It is suggested that he is upset that his private lodge is now open to the public, but he doesn't seem to be that upset as he has been seen tipping his hat while wandering through.
Also sharing the haunting limelight are Dapper Dan, a friendly spirit who like to blow in the ear of females as he passes by. There is also an older woman who tends to guard a stariwell. A lady in white has been spotted in the scond floor ladies room. At one point, there was also a young girl ghost who was thought to have been in a third floor bedroom.
The Brinton family is extremely well-known throughout the area and were some of the earliest settlers in the region. Caleb's father, Charles, died when Caleb was very young and though it is believed that Caleb was married to a woman named Ruth, based on his WWII registration, no further information appears to be available about her or any children they may have had. Just to make things intersting, due to the Brinton connection, Caleb is my fourth cousin, four times removed.
Many of the articles that appear about the Lodge state that Caleb never returned to the Lodge after the tropical storm Agnes did its damage in 1972. Most of these same articles state that Caleb died in 1975. Neither are true - Caleb DID return to the lodge because that is where he was when he died on October 26, 1974:
Services for Caleb D. Brinton, 81, who died Saturday in his Brinton Lodge, Douglassville R.D.1 residence, will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m.
The Rev. Allen Moyer will officiate in the Houck Funeral Home, Pottstown. Burial will be made in Sadsbury Friends Burial Grounds, Lancaster County.
Born in Gap, Lancaster County, a son of the late Charles and Annie (Dickinson) Brinton, he had been the owner of the lodge since 1927.
Surviving are two brothers, Charles of Largo Bluff, Fla., and Jack of Spring Grove, and a sister, Anna, wife of Stanley Murhart Sr., Royal Oak, Michigan.
Source: Reading Eagle, 10/28/1974
Location
All houses wherein men have lived and died
are haunted houses.
through the open doors
the harmless phantoms on their errands glide,
with feet that make no sound upon the floors.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow