The Cashtown Hotel (now the Cashtown Inn) was established on a tract of land occupied in 1797, and served as a combination stagecoach inn and private toll house on the Gettyburg-Chambersburg Pike (aka Old Chambersburg Pike).

The original portion of the brick structure which still stands and serves as the inn proper, was constructed in the typical English-fashion of the period, that being rectangular, and probably, initially one-room wide. It may have replaced a wooden structure constructed earlier. The bricked rear portion, containing additional rooms, was no doubt added as the inn's business increased in subsequent years.

The inn's original innkeeper, Peter Mark, refused to extend credit, dealing in cash only for tolls, room and board, and other goods sold, resulting in the community which grew up around the inn to be dubbed "Cashtown," the name by which it is known to this day.

"Cash" then generally excluded bank notes, which were considered simply as a fancy form of paper "IOU" issued against silver and gold coinage deposited by the bearer in his or her bank, so it can be presumed that Mr. Mark demanded payment is silver and gold coins only, which, until 1857*, could even include foreign coinage.

* In 1857, federal law made it illegal to conduct transactions in foreign coinage in the United States. In the Confederate States, payment of debts with foreign silver and gold coins was permitted until the demise of the Confederacy in 1865. By the end of the Civil War, the Confederate Treasury consisted primarily of Mexican gold and silver coinage.