On March 19, 1776, John Barnes petitioned the judges of the Gloucester County Court to license his house, at the intersection of five main roads in Mantua Township, as a tavern. “An Inn at this said house is much wanting,” he stated in his petition, “...as there is not one on said road nearer than eight miles on one side and five on the other.” Situated atop the highest ground in the area, The Barnsboro Hotel commands a view of wooded country that must have looked much the same in 1720, when John Budd built his log cabin at the edge of a great pine forest inhabited by Indians and bears. There had been nine previous owners when John Barnes acquired the property on February 23, 1751. Barnes’ tavern license required him to keep at least two spare beds besides those needed for his family, and to provide stabling and prodder for travelers' horses. In Barnes’ honor, the community, originally called Lodgetown after an early settler, Benjamin Lodge, was renamed Barnesborough, later shortened to Barnsboro. The Tavern itself has undergone name changes during its 204 year history.  It was known as the Spread Eagle, the Crooked Billet Inn and the Barnsboro Hotel before its present designation as the Barnsboro Inn.