The historic General Lafayette Inn will become a business incubator

After more than 25 years as a restaurant and brewpub, the landmark General Lafayette Inn in Whitemarsh Township will get new life as a business incubator.

Michael M. Carter, the Main Line entrepreneur who bought the inn last spring, said the space is being renovated into a club, open to members who will foster what he calls a modern brand of capitalism with a social component. Its name has not been finalized.

Carter and friend Michael T. Moe explain the concept in their book The Mission Corporation, which spells out seven tenets for companies, including a commitment to use their platform to impact society or their market in a positive way; establish a way for all full-time workers to own some form of equity compensation or stock; and to dedicate at least 3% of employee time to social/charitable causes, plus 2% of net income and 1% of revenue or equity to support at least one of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Jay Davidson Susanin is directing the historical work at the inn, parts of which date to the 1730s and which was originally known as the Three Tuns. During the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Barren Hill was fought in the immediate area, and Continental forces were led by Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.

Carter, the founder and chief executive of BizEquity, a business-valuation service, called it a passion project. Montgomery County records indicated that the purchase price was $845,000; in 2020, the property had been listed, with a liquor license, for $1.7 million. Carter did not buy the license.

The inn was a popular haunt among beer aficionados.

It operated as the General Lafayette, a restaurant and brewpub, from 1996 to 2010 and as the Barren Hill Tavern & Brewery from 2013 to 2016. Another ownership group next opened the General, a restaurant, which operated from 2017 to 2020. Speaking of haunts, at least one paranormal group has investigated claims of ghostly activity there.