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About the Owners

Robin and Frank Dunlap got into business in the Pennsylvania Wilds the way many people do. They came here as visitors - tourists -years ago and fell in love with the place. Frank's grandfather had owned a hunting cabin in the Pine Creek Valley so Frank had fallen in love with the place as a kid. When Robin and Frank married 31 years ago, she fell in love with the Pine Creek Valley, too. Frank and Robin were very familiar with Babb's Creek Inn, then called "Penn's Hotel".

“When we got married, that’s where we went on our honeymoon,” Robin explains.

Year after year they returned, mostly to relax and get away from the rush of life near Philadelphia. They dreamed of one day moving to the region, and kept their eyes open for the right opportunity - last summer, they saw it:
Babb’s Creek Inn & Pub was for sale.
When Frank and Robin learned Babb’s Creek was for sale, they jumped at the chance to buy it. Frank, a veteran tractor-trailer driver for a big food company, had tried before to find work around Morris, but with fewer than a dozen establishments, jobs were scarce. It seemed buying a business was the only way to create the life they wanted. Last summer, they took the plunge - they bought Babb’s. They kept their day jobs in Chester County while they worked on an exit strategy that would eventually allow them to move north permanently.

For now, the couple is managing Babb’s from afar. It’s not that hard to do, Robin says, because they've inherited a great general manager and staff—about a dozen people total. Robin says she and her husband don’t have any major renovations on the horizon, other than upgrading some kitchen freezers and perhaps adding a few televisions to the bar area. “We like it the way it is,” Robin explains. “It has always been a great place to go, as is.”

The Dunlap's are very excited about marketing the Inn to recreational tourists - they especially would like to reach out to cyclists, given the Inn's proximity to the Pine Creek Rails to Trails system. They're also looking at teaming up with other local businesses to provide packages for travellers like "an overnight stay, dinner and access to biking or boating on Pine Creek with a shuttle service".

(re-written from an interview by Tataboline Brant for the PA Wilds newletter, "Word on the Wilds".


History of the Babb's Creek Inn and Morris, PA

Morris township was officially organized in September, 1824, 24 years after it was first settled by Samson Babb. Babb, a native of Wilmington, Delaware for whom the town's main creek gets it's name, had previously purchased a large tract of forested land here (known as "Icassa") from the Pine Creek Land Company. He settled just east of where Babb's Creek Inn stands today and built a sawmill near the mouth of Wilson's Creek in 1806. Babb was instrumental in building the state road from Williamsport up Pine Creek to Wellsboro and he served as the justice of the peace until his death in 1815.

Samson Babb left quite a legacy and his descendants carried on his efforts to develop the area, the first being William. William Babb was the first postmaster of Morris, PA, appointed in 1840. Around this same time William built the first hotel in Morris, near the place of his father's first settlement, just next door to the location of Babb's Creek Inn. In 1850, William Babb's son, William S., is reported to be the inn-keeper.

Vintage "Black's Hotel" ad from the 1907 Tioga County Directory
The hotel known today as Babb's Creek Inn & Pub was opened by Charles Black, a native of Lycoming county. Black moved to Morris from Liberty in 1855 to engage in lumbering. He opened a hotel in 1881, known then as the Woodland Motel and then eventually Black's. Around the turn of the century there were four hotels in Morris - today only one remains - Charles Black's hotel - the Babb's Creek Inn and Pub!

Morris is richly steeped in history from many early industries like lumbering and coal mining. In 1883, the Arnot and Pine Creek Railroad (later Erie) was completed to it's terminus, Hoytville, the extinct village next door to Morris. This railroad connected the coal fields of Blossburg, Arnot, Klondike and Landus with the forests in the lower valley and the largest leather tannery in the world at Hoytville. At the turn of the century, Morris was a bustling hub of commerce lying between these lucrative industries.

Today, Morris, PA is a sleepy little village that managed to survive the major changes of the Industrial Revolution, unlike many of the small lumber and coal towns of the area. As in the past, Morris is still an important hub for travellers of all kinds, especially those seeking recreation. Situated in the middle of the PA Wilds, Coal and Lumber Heritage regions and just minutes from the PA Grand Canyon and Rails to Trails access, Morris is a central starting (or resting) point for those interested in hiking, biking, rafting, kayaking, camping, rock and ice climbing, skiing, snoeshowing, ghost town exploration and more. Come visit our area for some fun or relaxation in the forest and stay in the middle of it all at Babb's Creek Inn & Pub!