Page 29 - The Hunt - Spring 2022

Over his 79 years, Humphry Marshall
was able to nurture productive relationships with Benjamin Franklin and others of international acclaim.
David Cox likes to look out onto the Marshalton Inn’s ancient porch, imagining what it was like in the 1850s. “You can see it, touch it, feel it,” says Cox, who owns and operates the inn, along with Four Dogs Tavern next door. “They’d get off their horses, park their wagons and walk into the bar.”
Cox is also behind the Marshallton Village Heritage Center, and he and his, wife, Wendy, have three Airbnbs in town. Built as a home in 1793 by Joseph Woodward, the Marshalton Inn is spelled differently than the village’s name thanks to a typo on a deed transfer. One regular was Cox’s grandfather, who lived in the village in the 1950s. An excavator, he’d sit at the bar’s service end, have a few drinks and walk home. “The history gets to me a little bit—even the recent history,” says Cox. “Frolic Weymouth, the Wyeths ... the big hitters—they’ve all been here.”
Mark Slouf has begun writing a series of articles about Humphry Marshall
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