It had been a long, full weekend and by Monday night I
didn’t feel like making myself dinner, so I turned into the parking lot of the
familiar rustic structure on Route 1.

As I slipped into one of the quiet booths of varnished
handcrafted wood tables and hurricane lamps, it made me think of the old galley
from summers past, sailing on the schooner Lewis R. French in Maine.

I didn’t even need a menu – “Grilled Chicken Salad with
Honey Mustard dressing on the side, please.” It was second to none, even in the
area’s fine-dining establishments.

I waved to the trim, good-looking man, seated at the far
side of the bar regaling his friends. Looking a decade younger than his 72
years, he was wearing a turtleneck and black fisherman’s knit sweater along
with his long signature mustache.

As he walked over, I motioned for him to share the table
with me.

Tom Drane, owner of the Chadds Ford Tavern, was born in
Chester, the seventh of 10 children. “I’m not spoiled too much,” he smiled.

As a teenager, weighing all of 118 pounds, Drane exercised
horses for Frederick M. Mitchell owner of Fox Valley Farm in the Cheyney-Glen
Mills area. First exercising horses on weekends only, he dropped out of school
in 10^th grade, and went full time. “I didn’t like school.” he
explained. “I wanted to be a jockey and rode thousands of horses. I was wiry
but strong,” he reminisced. “I loved it.”

But at the age of 18, Drane started working in the
restaurant business and married his wife Earlene, still steadfastly by his side
today.

Then, in 1966 a small, run down c.1830, one-room tavern in
Chadds Ford came on the market. Originally offered for $35,000, by the time
Drane was able to buy it in 1967, the asking price was $45,000.

“It was in very bad shape,” he said.

Drane cleaned up the place and added on the larger back
wing, making the Chadds Ford Tavern the local icon it is today.

I asked him how Chadds Ford had changed since he came to the
village.

While mentioning the former Continental Safari Night Club up
at Routes 1 and 202, the coming of the condominiums and hotels, Drane said, by
in large, the character of Chadds Ford has not changed.

“A lot of my customers have passed away, but others who came
in the ‘70s still come,” he said.

A quick glance around the tavern shows original paintings of
men with oddly familiar mustaches.

“Andy, Frolic, Rea- they all sketched me” he said, and
pointed to two oils of him done by Bill Ewing.

For the past twenty years, Drane’s daughter Kym, a former
model in New York City, has been general manager of the tavern. “She still runs
every morning,” Drane added.

But like so many adult children of very successful
restaurateurs, the same desire to devote a lifetime to long restaurant hours,
perhaps at the expense of their families, is not always guaranteed. Drane, who
has had heart bypass surgery, worries about the future of the tavern.

So as the evening ended, we raised our glasses of wine and
toasted to a bright future for the Chadds Ford Tavern.

And oh yes, the next time I’m there, I think I’ll try
another tavern favorite – Chicken Charlie on Ciabatta bread.