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.