The farmhouse has a history rich with character and even a few legends thrown in. There are more pieces of the puzzle to fit together, but a few interesting morsels have been discovered.
The original tract of land was purchased from the Penn family in 1741. By 1755 a house had been built at the present location. The most prominent owner of the farm was Mr. James Lincoln and his wife Elizabeth from 1810 to 1834. Mr. Lincoln was a great-uncle to our esteemed 16th president. In 2000, we aquired the James Lincoln deed at auction and it bears the signature of James' grandfather Abraham, after whom the president was named. James' mother was Anne Boone, a first cousin to the legendary frontiersman Daniel Boone of nearby Reading. Thence the name, "Lincoln-Boone Bed and Breakfast."
One local historical book, The Annals of Conestoga Valley , mentions this farm numerous times and alludes to James Lincoln's role in the underground railroad in helping runaway slaves escape southern plantations and bounty hunters in the 18th and 19th centuries. There is also knowledge of a limestone cavern that runs under the property and some say runs under the town of Morgantown, though no one seems to know for sure if it factored into the harboring of fugitive slaves. Recent excavation has turned up an underground aquaduct that runs just south of the house which probably was used to bring running water into the basement in colonial times.
In 1834 the large bank barn that is nearest Red School Road was built by the new owner of the property, David Mast. About this same time a sizeable addition was added onto the north side of the house, connecting the rear summer kitchen to the main house with two rooms on each floor. Local historians believe that the addition would have been added sometime before the barn was built, perhaps in 1832. The barn itself was reconstructed after being hit by a tornado in 1979.
There is a cemetery located on the northern edge of the farm. Buried there are Rozanna's grandfather, great grandfather and great great grandfather. The earliest marked grave dates from 1809, but there are numerous other unmarked graves that local legend holds date back to the 18th century.
The farm is currently owned by Steven and Rozanna Leever who purchased it from her father, Stephen S. Stotztfus in 2000. The farm has been in Rozanna's family since 1903. Her father, Stephen S., purchased it in 1965 from his father, Stephen R. Stoltzfus, who had owned the property since 1933. The Stoltzfus family was Amish and all of their children attended the local one room schoolhouse located on the southern edge of the farm along route 23. This same "Little Red Schoolhouse" has been featured in National Geographic several times over the years and is currently a tourist information center.
Stephen's daughter Rozanna, her husband Steve, three daughters and one son have lived on the farm since 1995 and are attempting to restore its historical charm. Now they want visitors to Lancaster County to experience the beauty and serenity of the Conestoga Valley as guests of the Lincoln-Boone Bed and Breakfast.
