Dobbin House Tavern
Built around 1776 by the Reverend Alexander Dobbin as a family home and classical school for boys, the stone house is the oldest standing structure in Gettysburg, later sheltering freedom-seekers in a hidden crawl space on the Underground Railroad and serving as a field hospital for wounded soldiers of both armies after the 1863 battle. Today it operates as a tavern and restaurant, but staff and guests say the building never fully emptied of its dead. Visitors report the apparition of Dobbin himself drifting through the rooms with the scent of cigar smoke, the figures of escaped slaves lingering near their old hiding places, and Civil War soldiers wandering the lower floors. Diners describe candles snuffing out without a draft, doors opening on their own, a phantom smell of antiseptic, and bloodstains that fade from the floorboards only to reappear. A woman in a blue gown and the spirit of a small child round out a haunting reported across more than one independent Gettysburg ghost chronicle.
📍 89 Steinwehr Avenue, Gettysburg, PA 17325, Gettysburg, PA · Get directions