Just steps from our covered front porch you will find the tranquil Tred Avon River and the historic Oxford Bellevue car-ferry, dating back to 1635.

Rooms in the historic building are located on the second and third floors, and the restaurant is located on the first floor. Our stairway is wide and gradual. Accommodations range from tiny sleeping rooms with one double bed, to larger rooms with king beds and adjoining sitting rooms. Four of the Inn's 14 rooms have side views of the river. These are the 1710 rooms with all their original paneling and charm.

Through the years, the Inn has been used as a private residence, town hall, boarding house, temporary convalescence home for World War I veterans, and a general store. In the late 1940's, the Inn began to operate as a Country Inn.

In 1750, Morris had been aboard the Liverpool Merchant, which had just arrived, welcoming the captain. He climbed into a small boat to go ashore. The captain readied the ship's guns to fire a salute, as was custom, when a fly lit on his nose. His swat at the fly was misinterpreted by the crew, who fired the cannon prematurely, when Morris' boat was only 20 yards away. Wadding struck Morris' right arm, breaking it and inflicting a wound that became infected. Morris died six days later, only 39 years old and at the height of his career. He is buried at White Marsh Church.

At the outbreak of the American Revolution, Robert Morris, Jr., was made partner in the Philadelphia firm he had joined as a boy. When few would risk money on a new concept of the United States, he used his entire savings to help finance the Continental Army and became a close friend of George Washington, who depended on him to direct the financing of the war.

Robert Morris, Jr. is known primarily by his title "The Financier of the American Revolution," a reference both to his position as a Superintendent of Finance of the United States from 1781-1784 and to his general role in raising money and supplies for Continental government. He was one of the only two Founding Fathers to sign all three fundamental testaments of the American Revolution: The Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, and The United States Constitution. In the line of succession that include Alexander Hamilton and Albert Gallatin, Morris may be considered the first of the three great treasury secretaries who laid the financial foundations of the United States.

The northernmost three story portions of the Inn, the home of Robert Morris, was 65 years old at the time of the Revolution and its restoration was designed to recapture the rich heritage of early America.

The Inn has been enlarged several times since its first use as a private home. The staircase which leads to the guest rooms is the enclosed type of the Elizabethan period and was build prior to 1715. The original flooring in the upstairs hall is Georgian white pine. The nails were hand made, and the 14 inch square beams and pilasters were fastened with hand hewn oak pegs. Four of the guest rooms have hand made wall paneling and the fireplaces were built of brick made in England and used as ballast in the early sailing days.

In the last few years, the Inn has established a reputation of consistently serving good food with excellent service. The Inn is featured in Country Inns and Back roads, Classic Country Inns of America, Very Special Places and American's Historic Inns and Taverns. Unsolicited recommendations have appeared in Diversion, Southern Living, Washingtonian, Good Housekeeping, Wall Street Journal, Town and Country, Better Homes and Gardens, Southern Accents, Discerning Traveler, and Bon Appetite. For many years, the Inn received Travel Holidays' Recommended Fine Dining Award. The Inn is dedicated to continuing the tradition of quality.

John Moll, famous Oxford artist, provided the three famed murals adorning the reception hall. The Riverview Room, just off the reception hall, has 280 year old wood pegged wall panels and a fireplace of bricks made in England around 1812.

The impressive murals in the dining room were made from wallpaper samples used by manufactures' salesman 140 years ago. The four seasons - the Plains of West Point, Winnipeg Indian Village, Natural Bridge of Virginia and Boston Harbor - were printed on a screw-type press using 1600 woodcut blocks carved from orangewood. The murals were painted by an unknown French artist. In 1962, during the redecoration of the White House, Mrs. John F. Kennedy found the original wallpaper of this design in an historic home in western Maryland, had the paper removed and placed on the walls of the White House reception room.

The tavern's slate floor came from Vermont and over the fireplace is the Morris coat of arms, a magnificent oak, deep-relief carved by John White. The Raleigh Tavern in colonial Williamsburg inspired the chimney which arises from the massive fireplace in the taproom. Complimenting the fine woodwork of this room is a hand carved log canoe under sail by Ted Hanks of Oxford.