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We are so happy you stopped by for a visit! As you sip tea and chat with friends and family, you may take note of the intricately carved columns in our downstairs dining room, floral hinges on the gift shop doors, the transoms about the second-floor rooms, and the original wood floors throughout the home. All these features, plus more, are timeless markers that reveal The Tea Trolley's rich history that it has been steeped in since the mid-1800s - read on to find out more!
Humphrey Robert Lloyd was born in Llan Festiniog, Nothern Wales, England in 1838. In 1845, he came to the United States with his parents, married Jane Williams in March 1864, building this house in the late 1880s and early 90s. The home's second name is Rees Manor, after William and James Rees moved to the Delta area from Wales in 1725. The brothers discovered deposits of slate rock in 1734 while constructing structures on their farm which soon began the slate industry in the are. Their descendant, Richard Rees, was a quarry owner of one of the ridges above Delta in the 19th century.
Lloyd was a natural business entrepreneur, developing most of Cardiff and Delta, Pennsylvania as he never worked in or owned a quarry. He was the proprietor of Lloyd's Fall whichc was later referred to as The Pen-Mar Theater, built the Cardel Hotel and H.R. Lloyd Carriage Company, which was a livery stable in 1885, and was a Notary Public. Lloyda also became the Vice President of the Peoples National Bank of Delta that resides across the street from The Tea Trolley. The bank closed its doors in 1932 during the Great Depression and both the theater and hotel no longer exist.
H.R. Lloyd and Jane Williams Lloyd went on to have three children: Robert, Jane Winifred, and Jugh. Jane Winifred Lloyd would later marry Edward E. Hughes, who ran the 118-acre Hughes Farm and Fairview Dairy. His father Hugh E. Hughes was born in Abanazer, North Wales and came to America in the 1840s, reaching the Delta area in 1850.
Jane gave birth to Edward E. Hughes Jr. in 1867 and Jane Winifred Lloyd Hughes in 1869. The home was then passed down through the family, its primary occupants being one of Jane W. Lloyd Hughes' daughters, Isabel Hughes McLaughlin, and then her sons Dr. Randall M. and Robert McLaughlin. The sons' children soon encompassed the Hershner, Dailing, Urey, and Henning family names. While the family no longer owns the house, its descendants still pop in every so often and tell lovely stories about their time here, particularly about holidays.
The house has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983 within the Delta Historic District.
Current Owner Rachael Cox, originally from London, purchased the home in 2008 from David and Jean Galbreath to expand her catering business that she started in 2001. After removing a wall in the dining room to restore the columns, redoing the front porch, and ensuring the wood floors are refinished each year for maximum shine, The Tea Trolley is still going strong over ten years later!
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