This Story begins long ago when the military road ran from Carlisle to Fort Pitt in the province of Pennsylvania.

In the mid-1700's in the western part of Cumberland County, there were two well known taverns. One was the Forks Inn built in 1762, the other was the Defibaugh Tavern on Route 30 between Bedford and Everett. The Defibaugh Tavern was said to be the largest inn along the old Pennsylvania road.

The origin and name of the Defibaugh Tavern began in Bad Liebenzell, Germany, with Johannes Tiefenbach, born 1660. Johannes occupation was a banker and he was a member of the Church of Graben, Germany. A son Kasper was born in 1695, Kasper married Eva Catherine Pfiel, to this marriage there were born five sons Eva Pfiel and four of her sons died in Germany, the youngest, Johannes Adam, born 1732, died in America in 1810 age 78. Kasper having a young son remarried in Germany in 1735, taking Sabina Weber as his second wife, to this marriage were born three males and three females between 1736 and 1750. During that time, Kasper's son Johannes Adam was living in America in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Through Johannes influence his family migrated to America. Kasper sailed first leaving his wife and family to follow. He sailed from Portsmouth, England on the ship Edinburgh, the ship arrived at the port of Philadelphia on August 13 1750. Kasper secured an indenture on May 14, 1751, for 400 acres west of the Susquehanna River in disputed territory. An agreement was made to pay for the land on yearly installments.

At the time Kasper did not know that has family had already left Germany until he read the immigration lists at the port of Philadelphia They stated" Mrs. Kasper Tiefenbach has migrated from Graben to America, August 28, 1751, with her children.

When Mrs. Kasper Tiefenbach arrived in Philadelphia she was so ill from the rough sea voyage she died soon thereafter, it is not known where she is buried.

Kasper could not cope with the family so he took on his third wife Catherine Mischler of Lancaster County in 1754. To this marriage were several children, Gottlieb born in 1754 had four children, Johannes born in 1756, Elizabeth born 1760 became the wife of Frederick Hill, they had ten children, Susanna born in 1765, died in 1866 living to be 101 years old, she became the wife of Jacob Earnst of Bedford County.

When Kasper and his family moved from Lancaster to Bedford County is Unknown, probably around 1772. In 1775 in Bedford County, Kasper was taxed for 150 acres, 15 acres improved, 2 horses and a cow.

When Kasper settled on this tract of land, he and his eldest son Gottlieb cut timber and built a sturdy log cabin, with an outdoor bake oven, an outdoor cookhouse, a barn and a stake and rider fence enclosing fields to provide a safe coral for the drovers stock, the travelers horses, and a place to rest. An important asset of the tavern was the powerful flow of spring water piped to a roadside trough.

As Kasper's family began to grow there were need for improvements in his home. He added sleeping rooms at the rear of the log tavern, a two story gallery entered by the stairs from the ground level. On some nights if the inn was crowded, people slept on blankets on the gallery floors. Kasper's son Gottlieb took over management of the tavern, with help from other family members The name of Gottlieb's wife is unknown. She is supposedly buried in the Defibaugh Graveyard, across the Raystown River at Hartley Dam The Tavern was sold to David Mottimore in 1862 and it became known as "The Willows".

The Tavern was restored to its originality by Williard and Velma Defibaugh in 1978. The name Tiefenbach is the German spelling of Dieffenbach/Dieffenbacher/Devibaugh/Defibaugh/Deffenbaugh/Devenbaugh and Diefenbaugh.