Siblings become first Black owners of bed and breakfast in Gettysburg

Twelve years ago, siblings Christine, Stephen and Patrick Campbell dreamt of owning a bed and breakfast that will also serve as a “holiday house” for the family. The siblings materialized their dream after acquiring the Keystone Inn in Gettysburg.

Led by Christine, they acquired the 109-year-old property located at 231 Hanover St. in August 2020.“I had a dream of owning a bed and breakfast, and I brought my brothers along with me,” Christine told York Daily Record. “We were all at a point in our lives and none of us had a house big enough for all of us to get together,” she said.

“I had a dream of owning a bed and breakfast, and I brought my brothers along with me,” Christine told York Daily Record. “We were all at a point in our lives and none of us had a house big enough for all of us to get together,” she said.

“Patrick being a strong businessman, Stephen an architect…and myself having run housing programs for people with special needs for more years than I want to count – we thought that we would make a great team,” Christine added.

According to her, there are six siblings, grandchildren and grandparents celebrating holidays together but had no place for such a large family gathering so they started looking for a central converging place within two hours of their residences. They settled on Keystone Inn.

“The first time we walked into this inn, the three of us just absolutely loved it,” Christine said.

The inn was built in 1913 for Clayton S. Reaser, a furniture manufacturer in Gettysburg. In the 1930s, it was turned into five apartments until it was donated to Gettysburg College. The college sold the property and it was restored into a single home and opened as a bed and breakfast in 1987.

Until it was purchased by the Campbells in 2020, the inn remained in operation under two different owners.

“People think it’s crazy,” Patrick said in reference to making a purchase in the hospitality industry amid the pandemic. “Not having full houses (of guests) initially wasn’t a bad thing for us because it allowed us to figure things out,” he added.

The Campbells owning the inn is historic as according to the African American Association of Innkeepers International, the Keystone Inn is the first Black-owned inn or bed and breakfast in Gettysburg.