Drucilla Meany-Herbert has operated her own used / rare book shop since 1985. She is very well known within the Society for Creative Anachronism (the SCA) as her alter-ego “The Haunted Bookshop”

Chris Herbert has been buying & selling books on Military History, mostly on the American Civil War, since 1995. He has been a bookbinder / book restorer for over 25 years.

We have now combined our book efforts under a single name:
The Rock Top Book Shop and Bindery.

The Rock Top Hotel / Rock Top Book Shop Page

We have been very fortunate to land in an area with a lot of history behind it.

Why “Cashtown” ? (From the Franklin Township Website)

The village of Cashtown was laid out in the early 1800’s. The earliest known reference to Cashtown was made in 1821, when it was said that a tavern keeper at what is now the Cashtown Inn, demanded cash payment from a patron. The first postmaster of Cashtown was Adam S. E. Duncan, who was appointed in 1835.

Cashtown is probably best known for its connection to the Battle of Gettysburg.

Cashtown was one of the first locations that the Confederate Army was ordered to form at during the Gettysburg Campaign. Confederate Generals slept in the Cashtown Inn. Cashtown and the surrounding areas all became staging areas for the Confederate Army, and eventually many houses and barns in the area were used as field hospitals to treat the wounded.

Why the name “Rock Top Book Shop” ?

From the past history of our house. Our house was built in 1878 and was run into the late 1920’s as The Rock Top Hotel. The name was drawn from the rocky, pointed hill in the middle of Cashtown – called “Rock Top.” We have found the name “Rock Top Hotel” in several newspapers.

November 6, 1894 : “The Gettysburg Compiler” mentioned that “A new and handsome register has been secured by Landlord Jacob Deardorf of the Rock Top Hotel, Cashtown”

January 11, 1989 : “The Gettysburg Compiler” mentioned “The sixth annual meeting of the Franklin Township Social Club, better known as the “Hog Association,” met at the Rock Top Hotel, Cashtown, on Friday evening, January 7th.”

May 20, 1903 : “The Gettysburg Compiler” wrote “As if the glory of an afternoon going toward the mountain was not enough, as if the charm of an evening from Rock Top was not enough, as if the good things stowed away into inner man at Rock Top Hotel, the landlord’s last turkey, with all the etceteras, was not enough, then on the homeward bound way, over the whole picture is thrown the weird glamour of moonshine, with its mystery of shadow and its witchery of the indistinct. There is a glory of moon beam in the joy that lives in your soul over the message that Adams county scenery has given you, a joy that makes you swear that there is no spot on earth like this.”

June 5, 1909 : “The Adams County Independent” wrote “We are sorry to learn that our enterprising landlord, Thomas Eagle, has sold the good will and fixtures of the Rock Top Hotel to Mr. Abner Kump and contemplates leaving our town. His many friends regret his leaving as he always has a smile and kind word for everyone. He is a member of the P.O.S. of A. here and his many brothers feel sorry to lose such a faithful brother.”

March 7, 1929 : “The Gettysburg Times” wrote of a Public Sale of Real Estate by A.B. Kump, of property in Cashtown, Franklin Township, formerly known as the Rock Top Hotel.

August 24, 1938 : “The Gettysburg Times” wrote a Legal Notice, the sale of “lot of ground in the village of Cashtown, Franklin Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania, improves with a two and a half story brick building, known as the Rock Top Hotel” from the estate of the late Carl Tee, to Robert S. Hahn.

And on February 1, 1945, “The Gettysburg Times” had a Legal Notice, stating that “E.W. Hartman, Franklin Township, administer of the estate of the late Robert S. Hahn, Franklin Township, to Daniel S. Mickley, Franklin Township, the Rock Top Hotel and other property along the Lincoln Highway west in Cashtown.”

In deference to the history of our new home,
we joined our businesses and opened under the new name of The Rock Top Book Shop.