Gypsy Heart
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Taverns ................ These look like some fantastic areas to hunt ....
Old Taverns /Stage stops
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The house known for many years as the Ellery Tavern is still standing in Gloucester, Massachu setts and is a very good example of the overhanging second story, as is shown in the front view and also of the lean-to, or sloping-roofed ell, which is shown of the rear of the house. This house was built by Parson White in 1707, and afterward kept as a tavern by James Stevens till 1740; then it came into the hands of Landlord Ellery. As in scores of other taverns in other towns, the selectmen of the town held their meetings within its doors. There were five selectmen in 1744, and their annual salary for transacting the town's business was five dollars apiece. The tavern charges, however, for their entertainment amounted to £30, old tenor. It is not surprising, therefore, to read in the town records of the following year that the citizens voted the selectmen a salary of £5, old tenor, apiece, and "to find themselves." Nevertheless, in. 1749, there was another bill from the Ellery Tavern of £78, old tenor, for the selectmen who had been sworn in the year previously and thus welcomed, " Expense for selectmen and Licker, £3. 18s." The Ellery Tavern has seen many another meeting of good cheer since those days.
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The old Collin's Tavern was in coaching days a famous tavern in Naugatuck on the road between New Haven and Litchfield. One of the hostlers at this tavern, a burly negro, was the butt of all the tavern hangers-on, and a great source of amusement to travellers. His chief accomplishment was "bunting." He bragged that he could with a single bunt break down a door, overturn a carriage, or fell a horse. One night a group of jokers promised to give him all the cheeses he could bunt through. He bunted holes through three cheeses on the tavern porch, and then was offered a grindstone, which he did not perceive either by his sense of sight or feeling to be a stone until his alarmed tormentors forced him to desist for fear he might kill himself.
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"Where dozed a fire of beechen logs that bred Strange fancies in its embers golden-red, And nursed the loggerhead, whose hissing dip, Timed by wise instinct, creamed the bowl of flip."
These fine lines of Lowell's seem to idealize the homely flip and the loggerhead as we love to idealize the customs of our forbears. Many a reader of them, inspired by the picture, has heated an iron poker or flip-dog and brewed and drunk a mug of flip. I did so not long ago, mixing carefully by a rule for flip recommended and recorded and used by General Putnam - Old Put - in the Revolution. I had the Revolutionary receipt and I had the Revolutionary loggerhead, and I had the old-time ingredients, but alas, I had neither the tastes nor the digestion of my Revolutionary sires, and the indescribable scorched and puckering bitterness
of taste and pungency of smell of that rank compound which was flip, will serve for some time in my memory as an antidote for any overweening longing for the good old times.
The toddy stick, beloved for the welcome ringing music it made on the sides of glass tumblers, was used to stir up toddy and other sweetened drinks.
It was a stick six or eight inches long, with a knob at one end, or flattened out at the end so it would readily crush the loaf sugar used in the drink. The egg-nog stick was split at one end, and a cross-piece of wood was set firmly in. It was a crude egg-beater. Whirled rapidly around, while the upright stick was held firmly between the palms of the hands, it was a grateful, graceful, and inviting machine in the hands of skilful landlords of old
These fine lines of Lowell's seem to idealize the homely flip and the loggerhead as we love to idealize the customs of our forbears. Many a reader of them, inspired by the picture, has heated an iron poker or flip-dog and brewed and drunk a mug of flip. I did so not long ago, mixing carefully by a rule for flip recommended and recorded and used by General Putnam - Old Put - in the Revolution. I had the Revolutionary receipt and I had the Revolutionary loggerhead, and I had the old-time ingredients, but alas, I had neither the tastes nor the digestion of my Revolutionary sires, and the indescribable scorched and puckering bitterness
of taste and pungency of smell of that rank compound which was flip, will serve for some time in my memory as an antidote for any overweening longing for the good old times.
The toddy stick, beloved for the welcome ringing music it made on the sides of glass tumblers, was used to stir up toddy and other sweetened drinks.
It was a stick six or eight inches long, with a knob at one end, or flattened out at the end so it would readily crush the loaf sugar used in the drink. The egg-nog stick was split at one end, and a cross-piece of wood was set firmly in. It was a crude egg-beater. Whirled rapidly around, while the upright stick was held firmly between the palms of the hands, it was a grateful, graceful, and inviting machine in the hands of skilful landlords of old
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Great post gypsy!! thank you.
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The old Conkey Tavern at Prescott, Massachusetts, saw the gathering of a very futile but picturesque windstorm of Revolutionary grievance. It was built in 1758 by William Conkey, on a lovely but lonely valley midway between the east and west hills of Pelham. The Swift River running through this valley was made the boundary in the town division in 1822, which made eastern Pelham into Prescott. Captain Daniel Shays, the leader of Shays' Rebellion, lived half a mile from the tavern on the Centre Range Road. In the cheerful rooms of this tavern, Shays, aided by the well-stocked tavern-bar, incited the debt-burdened farmers to rebel against their state government. Here he drilled his "flood-wood," and from hence he led them forth to Springfield, and on January 25, 1787, was promptly repulsed by the state militia under General Lincoln. Eleven hundred men trooped back to Pelham, and after fo days of what must have proved scant and
cold fare in those barren winter hilltops, again sallied out to Petersham. Here he was again routed by Lincoln, who, with his men, had marched thirty miles without halt, from eight o'clock at night to nine the following morning through a blinding, northeast New England snowstorm. A hundred and fifty of Shays' men were captured, but their valiant and wordy leader escaped.
When the photograph was taken, in 1883, the old timbers within the house were sound and firm, and the beams overhead still bore the marks of the muskets of Shays' impatient men. It was a characteristic "deserted home" of New England.
Nothing could more fully picture Whittier's lines: -
"Against the wooded hills it stands, Ghost of a dead house ; staring through Its broken lights on wasted lands Where old-time harvests grew.
"Unploughed, unsown, by scythe unshorn, The poor forsaken farm-fields lie, Once rich and rife with golden corn And pale-green breadths of rye.
"So sad, so drear; it seems almost Some haunting Presence makes its sign, That down some shadowy lane some ghost Might drive his spectral kine."
Since then the old tavern has fallen down, a sad ruin, like many another on New England hills, in a country as wild and lonely, probably far lonelier, than in the days of the Revolution and Shays' Rebellion.
cold fare in those barren winter hilltops, again sallied out to Petersham. Here he was again routed by Lincoln, who, with his men, had marched thirty miles without halt, from eight o'clock at night to nine the following morning through a blinding, northeast New England snowstorm. A hundred and fifty of Shays' men were captured, but their valiant and wordy leader escaped.
When the photograph was taken, in 1883, the old timbers within the house were sound and firm, and the beams overhead still bore the marks of the muskets of Shays' impatient men. It was a characteristic "deserted home" of New England.
Nothing could more fully picture Whittier's lines: -
"Against the wooded hills it stands, Ghost of a dead house ; staring through Its broken lights on wasted lands Where old-time harvests grew.
"Unploughed, unsown, by scythe unshorn, The poor forsaken farm-fields lie, Once rich and rife with golden corn And pale-green breadths of rye.
"So sad, so drear; it seems almost Some haunting Presence makes its sign, That down some shadowy lane some ghost Might drive his spectral kine."
Since then the old tavern has fallen down, a sad ruin, like many another on New England hills, in a country as wild and lonely, probably far lonelier, than in the days of the Revolution and Shays' Rebellion.
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THERE still stands in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, at the junction of the Westborough road with the old "King's Highway," a weatherbeaten but dignified house, the Pease Tavern. This house was for many years a popular resort for the teamsters and travellers who passed back and forth on what was then an important road. Behind the house was originally a large shed with roof and open sides for the protection from rain or snow of the great numbers of loaded wagons. In another covered shed at the side of the house were chairs and tables for the teamsters and shelves for any baggage they took from their wagons. This shed for the accommodation of the teamsters would indicate to me that they were not so unreservedly welcome at this tavern as at many others on the route. Miss Ward, in her entertaining book, Old Times in Shrewsbury, says that under this shed, in the side boards of the house, slight holes were cut one above the other to a window in the second story. These holes were large enough to hold on by, and to admit the toe
of a man's boot; by dexterous use of hands and feet the teamsters were expected to climb up the outside wall to the window, and thus reach their sleeping apartments without passing through the hall and interior of the house. This was, it was asserted, for the convenience both of the family and
the travellers. In the Wayside Inn at Sudbury a small special staircase winding in the corner of the taproom led to the four "drivers' bedrooms" above. One of the upper rooms in the Pease Tavern was a dancing hall. Across this hall from wall to wall was a swing partition which could be hooked up to the ceiling when a dance was given, but at
other times divided the hall into two large bedrooms. This was a common appurtenance of the old-time tavern.
Major John Farrar, an officer in the Revolution, first kept this Shrewsbury inn, and greatly rejoiced when Washington visited it in his triumphal journey through the country. His successor as landlord, Levi Pease, was a man of note in the history of travel and transportation systems in Massachusetts. He was a Shrewsbury blacksmith who served through the entire Revolutionary War in a special function - which might be entitled a confidential transportation agent: he transferred important papers, carried special news, purchased horses and stores, foraged for the army, and enjoyed the full confidence of the leaders, especially of Lafayette. In 1783, when peace was established, he planned to establish a line of stages between Boston and Hartford, and thus turn his knowledge of roads and transportation to account. Wholly without funds, he found no one ready to embark in the daring project and work with him, save one young stage-driver, Reuben Sykes or Sikes, who braved parental opposition, as well as universal discouragement, and started with a stage-wagon from Hartford to Boston at the same hour that Captain Pease set out from Boston to Hartford. Each made the allotted trip in four days. The fare was ten dollars a trip. Empty stages were soon succeeded by prosperous trips, and in two years the penniless stage agent owned the Boston Inn opposite the Common, in Boston, on the spot where St.
Paul's Church now stands. The line was soon extended to New York.
Josiah Quincy gives a far from alluring picture of Pease's coaches in the earliest days : -
"I set out from Boston in the line of stages lately established by an enterprising Yankee, Pease by name, which at that day was considered a method of transportation of wonderful expedition. The journey to New York took up a week. The carriages were old and shackling, and much of the harness made of ropes. One pair of horses carried the stage eighteen miles. We generally reached our resting place for the night, if no accident intervened, at ten o'clock, and after a frugal supper went to bed with a notice that we should be called at three the next morning, which generally proved to be half-past two. Then, whether it snowed or rained, the traveller must rise and make ready by the help of a horn-lantern and a farthing candle, and proceed on his way over bad roads, sometimes wiith a driver showing no doubtful symptoms of drunken-ness, which good-hearted passengers never fail to improve at every stopping place by urging upon him another glass of toddy. Thus we travelled, eighteen miles a stage, sometimes obliged to get out and help the coachman lift the coach out of a quagmire or rut, and arrived at New York after a week's hard travelling, wondering at the ease as well as expedition of our journey."
It should be added to this tale that young Quincy was in love, and on his way to see his sweetheart, which may have added to his impatience.
This condition of affairs was not permitted to remain long. Captain Pease bought better horses and more comfortable wagons, and he persuaded townships to repair the roads; and he thus advertised in the Massachusetts Spy, or the Worcester Gazette, under date of January 5, 1786: -
"Stages from Portsmouth in New Hampshire, to Savannah in Georgia.
"There is now a line of Stages established from New Hampshire to Georgia, which go and return regularly, and carry the several Mails, by order and permission of Congress.
"The stages from Boston to Hartford in Connecticut, set out, during the winter season, from the house of Levi Pease, at the Sign of the New York Stage, opposite the Mall, in Boston, every Monday and Thursday morning, precisely at five o'clock, go as far as Worcester on the evenings of those days, and on the days following proceed to Palmer, and on the third day reach Hartford; the first Stage reaches the city of New York on Saturday evening, and the other on the Wednesday evening following.
"The stages from New York for Boston, set out on the same days, and reach Hartford at the same time as the Boston Stages.
"The stages from Boston exchange passengers with the stages from Hartford at Spencer, and the Hartford Stages exchange with those from New York at Hartford, Passengers are again exchanged at Stratford Ferry, and not again until their arrival at New York.
"By the present regulation of the stages, it is certainly the most convenient and expeditious way of travelling that can possibly be had in America, and in order to make it the cheapest, the proprietors of the stages have lowered their price from four pence to three pence a mile, with liberty to passengers to carry fourteen pounds baggage.
"In the summer season the stages are to run with the mail three times in a week instead of twice in the winter, by which means those who take passage at Boston in the stage which sets off on Monday morning, may arrive at New York on the Thursday evening following, and all the mails during that season are to be but four days going from Boston to New York, and so from New York to Boston.
"Those who intend taking passage in - the stages must leave their names and baggage the evening preceding the morning that the stages set off, at the several places where the stages put up, and pay one-half of their passage to the place where the first exchange of passengers is made, if bound so far, and if not, one-half of their passage so far as they are bound.
"N. B. Way passengers will be accommodated when the stages are not full, at the same rate, viz. three pence only per mile.
"Said PEASE keeps good lodging, &c. for gentlemen travellers, and stabling for horses.
"BOSTON, Jan. 2nd, 1786."
Pease obtained the first Government contract within the new United States for carrying the mails ; and the first mail in this new service passed through Worcester on the 7th of January, 1786 - such changes had three short years brought.
All was not ease for him even then; he still drove the stage, and endured heat and cold; and when New England snowstorms could not be overcome by the mail-coach, like many another of his drivers, he shouldered the mail-bag and carried the mail on snowshoes to Boston town. He died in 1824, after having received from the Government the first charter granted in Massachusetts for a turnpike. It was laid out in 1808 from Boston through South Shrewsbury to Worcester, nearly parallel to the old road. It transformed travel in that vicinity and, indeed, served to alter all town relations and con-ditions. This grant and his many incessant efforts to establish turnpikes conferred on Levi Pease the title of the " Father of the Turnpike."
Many other charters were soon granted, and the state was covered with a network of turnpikes which were in general thronged with vehicles and livestock, and were therefore vastly profitable. From the prospectus of the Sixth Massachusetts Turnpike Company, incorporated in 1799 to build a road from Amherst to a point near Shrewsbury, we learn that the turnpike from Northampton to Pittsfield paid twelve per cent dividend.
On these great, bustling, living thoroughfares a sad change has fallen. In Bedford, Raystown, Somerset, Greensbury, in scores of towns, weeds
and grass grow in the ruts of the turnpike. The taverns are silent; some are turned into comfortless farmhouses, others are closed and unoccupied, sad and deserted widows of the old "pikes," far gone in melancholy decline.
Many of the methods familiar to us in railroad service to-day were invented by Pease, and were crudely in practice by him. He introduced the general ticket office in 1795, and no railroad office to-day sells tickets to all the points served by Pease. His stage office was in State Street, Boston. He evolved what we now term the "limited" and " accommodation " service of railroads; in fact, the the term "limited" originated with mail-coaches limiting passengers to a specific number. Pease's fast mail line took but four passengers in each coach, and ran to New York three times a week with the mails. The slower line charging lower prices ran the other days of the week and took all applicants, putting on extra coaches if required. This service began in 1793. Tolls were commuted on Massachusetts turnpikes before 1800, so that condition of railroad travel is a century old.
Not far from this Pease Tavern is a sulphur spring which has some medicinal repute, and which attracted visitors. To reach it at one time you passed close to the house of the Indian, Old Brazil, and his wife Nancy, and this was always a ticklish experience. Miss Ward tells their blood-curdling story. His real name was the gentle title Basil, but he had been a pirate on the high seas, and Brazil was more appropriate. He and his wife thriftily ran their
little farm and industriously wove charming baskets and peddled them around the neighboring towns, These last leaves on the tree were, for all the perceptions of Shrewsbury folk, peaceful creatures as they were honest; but when Brazil had been treated to a good mug of hard cider at tavern or farm-house (and no one would foil thus to treat him) he told of
his past life with such fierce voice and horrid gesture as made him equally a delight and a terror to the children and to many older folk as well.
He had been a bloodthirsty villain; scores, perhaps hundreds, of helpless souls on captured craft had perished at his gory hands. He detailed to the gaping loungers at the tavern with a realism worthy a modern novelist, how he split the heads of his victims open with his broadaxe - exactly in the middle - "one half would fall on one shoulder, tother half on tother shoulder! ugh! ugh!" and with another pull of cider, husband and wife trotted contentedly home. About 1850 they died as they had lived, close-and loving - companions. As a fitting testimonial to the pirate's end, the village boys put a charge of gunpowder in the brick oven of the peaceful little kitchen and blew the pirate's house in fragments.
At a time when he could not afford to pay high Boston rents, Pease made Shrewsbury his headquarters. This may account for the large number of old taverns in the town, several of which are portrayed in these pages, - the Old Arcade, Harrington's Tavern , Balch Tavern .
of a man's boot; by dexterous use of hands and feet the teamsters were expected to climb up the outside wall to the window, and thus reach their sleeping apartments without passing through the hall and interior of the house. This was, it was asserted, for the convenience both of the family and
the travellers. In the Wayside Inn at Sudbury a small special staircase winding in the corner of the taproom led to the four "drivers' bedrooms" above. One of the upper rooms in the Pease Tavern was a dancing hall. Across this hall from wall to wall was a swing partition which could be hooked up to the ceiling when a dance was given, but at
other times divided the hall into two large bedrooms. This was a common appurtenance of the old-time tavern.
Major John Farrar, an officer in the Revolution, first kept this Shrewsbury inn, and greatly rejoiced when Washington visited it in his triumphal journey through the country. His successor as landlord, Levi Pease, was a man of note in the history of travel and transportation systems in Massachusetts. He was a Shrewsbury blacksmith who served through the entire Revolutionary War in a special function - which might be entitled a confidential transportation agent: he transferred important papers, carried special news, purchased horses and stores, foraged for the army, and enjoyed the full confidence of the leaders, especially of Lafayette. In 1783, when peace was established, he planned to establish a line of stages between Boston and Hartford, and thus turn his knowledge of roads and transportation to account. Wholly without funds, he found no one ready to embark in the daring project and work with him, save one young stage-driver, Reuben Sykes or Sikes, who braved parental opposition, as well as universal discouragement, and started with a stage-wagon from Hartford to Boston at the same hour that Captain Pease set out from Boston to Hartford. Each made the allotted trip in four days. The fare was ten dollars a trip. Empty stages were soon succeeded by prosperous trips, and in two years the penniless stage agent owned the Boston Inn opposite the Common, in Boston, on the spot where St.
Paul's Church now stands. The line was soon extended to New York.
Josiah Quincy gives a far from alluring picture of Pease's coaches in the earliest days : -
"I set out from Boston in the line of stages lately established by an enterprising Yankee, Pease by name, which at that day was considered a method of transportation of wonderful expedition. The journey to New York took up a week. The carriages were old and shackling, and much of the harness made of ropes. One pair of horses carried the stage eighteen miles. We generally reached our resting place for the night, if no accident intervened, at ten o'clock, and after a frugal supper went to bed with a notice that we should be called at three the next morning, which generally proved to be half-past two. Then, whether it snowed or rained, the traveller must rise and make ready by the help of a horn-lantern and a farthing candle, and proceed on his way over bad roads, sometimes wiith a driver showing no doubtful symptoms of drunken-ness, which good-hearted passengers never fail to improve at every stopping place by urging upon him another glass of toddy. Thus we travelled, eighteen miles a stage, sometimes obliged to get out and help the coachman lift the coach out of a quagmire or rut, and arrived at New York after a week's hard travelling, wondering at the ease as well as expedition of our journey."
It should be added to this tale that young Quincy was in love, and on his way to see his sweetheart, which may have added to his impatience.
This condition of affairs was not permitted to remain long. Captain Pease bought better horses and more comfortable wagons, and he persuaded townships to repair the roads; and he thus advertised in the Massachusetts Spy, or the Worcester Gazette, under date of January 5, 1786: -
"Stages from Portsmouth in New Hampshire, to Savannah in Georgia.
"There is now a line of Stages established from New Hampshire to Georgia, which go and return regularly, and carry the several Mails, by order and permission of Congress.
"The stages from Boston to Hartford in Connecticut, set out, during the winter season, from the house of Levi Pease, at the Sign of the New York Stage, opposite the Mall, in Boston, every Monday and Thursday morning, precisely at five o'clock, go as far as Worcester on the evenings of those days, and on the days following proceed to Palmer, and on the third day reach Hartford; the first Stage reaches the city of New York on Saturday evening, and the other on the Wednesday evening following.
"The stages from New York for Boston, set out on the same days, and reach Hartford at the same time as the Boston Stages.
"The stages from Boston exchange passengers with the stages from Hartford at Spencer, and the Hartford Stages exchange with those from New York at Hartford, Passengers are again exchanged at Stratford Ferry, and not again until their arrival at New York.
"By the present regulation of the stages, it is certainly the most convenient and expeditious way of travelling that can possibly be had in America, and in order to make it the cheapest, the proprietors of the stages have lowered their price from four pence to three pence a mile, with liberty to passengers to carry fourteen pounds baggage.
"In the summer season the stages are to run with the mail three times in a week instead of twice in the winter, by which means those who take passage at Boston in the stage which sets off on Monday morning, may arrive at New York on the Thursday evening following, and all the mails during that season are to be but four days going from Boston to New York, and so from New York to Boston.
"Those who intend taking passage in - the stages must leave their names and baggage the evening preceding the morning that the stages set off, at the several places where the stages put up, and pay one-half of their passage to the place where the first exchange of passengers is made, if bound so far, and if not, one-half of their passage so far as they are bound.
"N. B. Way passengers will be accommodated when the stages are not full, at the same rate, viz. three pence only per mile.
"Said PEASE keeps good lodging, &c. for gentlemen travellers, and stabling for horses.
"BOSTON, Jan. 2nd, 1786."
Pease obtained the first Government contract within the new United States for carrying the mails ; and the first mail in this new service passed through Worcester on the 7th of January, 1786 - such changes had three short years brought.
All was not ease for him even then; he still drove the stage, and endured heat and cold; and when New England snowstorms could not be overcome by the mail-coach, like many another of his drivers, he shouldered the mail-bag and carried the mail on snowshoes to Boston town. He died in 1824, after having received from the Government the first charter granted in Massachusetts for a turnpike. It was laid out in 1808 from Boston through South Shrewsbury to Worcester, nearly parallel to the old road. It transformed travel in that vicinity and, indeed, served to alter all town relations and con-ditions. This grant and his many incessant efforts to establish turnpikes conferred on Levi Pease the title of the " Father of the Turnpike."
Many other charters were soon granted, and the state was covered with a network of turnpikes which were in general thronged with vehicles and livestock, and were therefore vastly profitable. From the prospectus of the Sixth Massachusetts Turnpike Company, incorporated in 1799 to build a road from Amherst to a point near Shrewsbury, we learn that the turnpike from Northampton to Pittsfield paid twelve per cent dividend.
On these great, bustling, living thoroughfares a sad change has fallen. In Bedford, Raystown, Somerset, Greensbury, in scores of towns, weeds
and grass grow in the ruts of the turnpike. The taverns are silent; some are turned into comfortless farmhouses, others are closed and unoccupied, sad and deserted widows of the old "pikes," far gone in melancholy decline.
Many of the methods familiar to us in railroad service to-day were invented by Pease, and were crudely in practice by him. He introduced the general ticket office in 1795, and no railroad office to-day sells tickets to all the points served by Pease. His stage office was in State Street, Boston. He evolved what we now term the "limited" and " accommodation " service of railroads; in fact, the the term "limited" originated with mail-coaches limiting passengers to a specific number. Pease's fast mail line took but four passengers in each coach, and ran to New York three times a week with the mails. The slower line charging lower prices ran the other days of the week and took all applicants, putting on extra coaches if required. This service began in 1793. Tolls were commuted on Massachusetts turnpikes before 1800, so that condition of railroad travel is a century old.
Not far from this Pease Tavern is a sulphur spring which has some medicinal repute, and which attracted visitors. To reach it at one time you passed close to the house of the Indian, Old Brazil, and his wife Nancy, and this was always a ticklish experience. Miss Ward tells their blood-curdling story. His real name was the gentle title Basil, but he had been a pirate on the high seas, and Brazil was more appropriate. He and his wife thriftily ran their
little farm and industriously wove charming baskets and peddled them around the neighboring towns, These last leaves on the tree were, for all the perceptions of Shrewsbury folk, peaceful creatures as they were honest; but when Brazil had been treated to a good mug of hard cider at tavern or farm-house (and no one would foil thus to treat him) he told of
his past life with such fierce voice and horrid gesture as made him equally a delight and a terror to the children and to many older folk as well.
He had been a bloodthirsty villain; scores, perhaps hundreds, of helpless souls on captured craft had perished at his gory hands. He detailed to the gaping loungers at the tavern with a realism worthy a modern novelist, how he split the heads of his victims open with his broadaxe - exactly in the middle - "one half would fall on one shoulder, tother half on tother shoulder! ugh! ugh!" and with another pull of cider, husband and wife trotted contentedly home. About 1850 they died as they had lived, close-and loving - companions. As a fitting testimonial to the pirate's end, the village boys put a charge of gunpowder in the brick oven of the peaceful little kitchen and blew the pirate's house in fragments.
At a time when he could not afford to pay high Boston rents, Pease made Shrewsbury his headquarters. This may account for the large number of old taverns in the town, several of which are portrayed in these pages, - the Old Arcade, Harrington's Tavern , Balch Tavern .
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Sprague's Journal of Maine History
Volume 9
page 21-23.
Early Kennebec Taverns
(by W. Scott Hill)
Read before the Maine Writer's Research Club by Mrs. Mabel Goodwin Hall, at its very
interesting annual meeting at the Hallowell House, Hallowell, Maine, February 18, 1921.
The colonists to New England brought many of the home customs with them, and in time came
the demand for the tavern, the combination of all the services of public houses in England, where
food, wines and liquors were sold, lodging for travelers and strangers, as well as stabling and
feeding horses and cattle. There were stringent laws for failing or refusing to care for man or
beast. Taverns were also places for public meetings and social gatherings.
The first tavern in Cushnoc, now Augusta, on the west side of the river, was on the corner of
what is now Grove and Green streets, and was built and kept by Josiah French probably in 1763.
This was a log house. David Thomas kept the first house of entertainment on the east side in
1764, just above Whitney Brook. He afterward moved to the Fort lot where he had another
tavern. I think this was afterwards used as a cooper's shop by Freeman Barker when burned
about 40 years ago. In 1784, Amos Pollard had a tavern on the south side of what is now Market
square, probably where the Opera House block now stands. It was frequently used for public
meetings and was an important place in the village. Hilton's tavern was a large farm building
just north of Whitney Brook, built before Bangor road was laid out, and faced on the Shirley
military road, as did the Great House of Col. Howard built in 1770/ Whitney Tavern was another
early tavern at the corner of Clark street and Bangor street. The brass knocker was taken from its
front door. This tavern had a two story piazza like the old Cushnoc House. It was torn don many
years ago. Reed's Tavern was a later one, and stood on the site of 40 or 42 Bangor street, into
which it was remodeled a few years ago.
Currier's tavern in Hallowell was a noted tavern when Hallowell was the center of trade on the
Kennebec. The site on that part of Water street know as Joppa, a large square two-story house.
It was torn down years ago after being used as a boarding house know as the Granite House.
Gage's tavern was one of the early taverns before the laying out of the present Western avenue.
This was on the farm formerly owned by James R. Townsend. At the time this tavern was built,
all the teaming from Farmington and intervening towns to Hallowell, then the seaport, was over
the road near here, long since discontinued, which ran in a direct line from the Whitman corner to
Hallowell. The shack built for the Italians a few years ago and still standing was on this
abandoned roadbed. The tavern was burned about twenty years ago, and the old sign "Gage's
Tavern" stored in the cellar was destroyed with it. It was a two story frame house.
Norris's tavern is still standing on the old road from Hallowell to Manchester Cross-Roads. It
was a finely built house, the inside finish being much better than most houses built at that time,
which was in the early years of the 1800. This like Gage's Tavern, was for travelers west of there
going and coming from Hallowell. It is, or was occupied by Italians and a sad wreck of its
former self. The large barn connected with it was struck by lightning and burned a few years
ago.
The business of the Norris, Gage and Currier taverns was ruined by the building of the back route
railroad from Lewiston, through Greene, Leed, Monmouth and other towns to Waterville, and the
Leeds and Farmington railroad, and Hallowell lost it prestige as a commercial center.
Piper's tavern, still standing on upper Water street, was a noted tavern. Water street was
originally laid out from this house. The handsome wrought-iron sign frame is still in place, bu
the sign long since disappeared. The Fuller tavern on Maintop, built and kept by the late John J.
Fuller, was a favorite house for the traveling public from the country north of Augusta. It was
moved to the west side of Northern avenue, and is now occupied as farmhouse by C. Wesley
Cummings. The old Cushnoc House was build by Amos Partridge in 1803. For eighty-five
years it bore a conspicuous part in the business life of Augusta, especially the period of the Civil
War, 1861-1865. It was ruined by fire, December 1, 1888, and one week later sold with the two
stables adjoining to the Lithgow Library Association for the site of the Lithgow Library.
One of the reminders of stage coach days is the house at Brown's corner, built for a tavern by
Samuel Homans more than a century ago, and occupied more than sixty years by the late Howes
Robbins and his son, Prescott. It was a finely built house, still standing and now used as a
farmhouse. The long bowling alley still remains, though used for other purposes. This is a
favorite resort for pleasure parties in days long gone by, as well as for travelers.
Bachelder's Tavern, in Litchfield, still standing, was a noted tavern in stage coach days from
Augusta to Portland. It was a station for changing horses, and for many years after the passing of
the stage coach a favorite hours for merry-makers in that section.
Volume 9
page 21-23.
Early Kennebec Taverns
(by W. Scott Hill)
Read before the Maine Writer's Research Club by Mrs. Mabel Goodwin Hall, at its very
interesting annual meeting at the Hallowell House, Hallowell, Maine, February 18, 1921.
The colonists to New England brought many of the home customs with them, and in time came
the demand for the tavern, the combination of all the services of public houses in England, where
food, wines and liquors were sold, lodging for travelers and strangers, as well as stabling and
feeding horses and cattle. There were stringent laws for failing or refusing to care for man or
beast. Taverns were also places for public meetings and social gatherings.
The first tavern in Cushnoc, now Augusta, on the west side of the river, was on the corner of
what is now Grove and Green streets, and was built and kept by Josiah French probably in 1763.
This was a log house. David Thomas kept the first house of entertainment on the east side in
1764, just above Whitney Brook. He afterward moved to the Fort lot where he had another
tavern. I think this was afterwards used as a cooper's shop by Freeman Barker when burned
about 40 years ago. In 1784, Amos Pollard had a tavern on the south side of what is now Market
square, probably where the Opera House block now stands. It was frequently used for public
meetings and was an important place in the village. Hilton's tavern was a large farm building
just north of Whitney Brook, built before Bangor road was laid out, and faced on the Shirley
military road, as did the Great House of Col. Howard built in 1770/ Whitney Tavern was another
early tavern at the corner of Clark street and Bangor street. The brass knocker was taken from its
front door. This tavern had a two story piazza like the old Cushnoc House. It was torn don many
years ago. Reed's Tavern was a later one, and stood on the site of 40 or 42 Bangor street, into
which it was remodeled a few years ago.
Currier's tavern in Hallowell was a noted tavern when Hallowell was the center of trade on the
Kennebec. The site on that part of Water street know as Joppa, a large square two-story house.
It was torn down years ago after being used as a boarding house know as the Granite House.
Gage's tavern was one of the early taverns before the laying out of the present Western avenue.
This was on the farm formerly owned by James R. Townsend. At the time this tavern was built,
all the teaming from Farmington and intervening towns to Hallowell, then the seaport, was over
the road near here, long since discontinued, which ran in a direct line from the Whitman corner to
Hallowell. The shack built for the Italians a few years ago and still standing was on this
abandoned roadbed. The tavern was burned about twenty years ago, and the old sign "Gage's
Tavern" stored in the cellar was destroyed with it. It was a two story frame house.
Norris's tavern is still standing on the old road from Hallowell to Manchester Cross-Roads. It
was a finely built house, the inside finish being much better than most houses built at that time,
which was in the early years of the 1800. This like Gage's Tavern, was for travelers west of there
going and coming from Hallowell. It is, or was occupied by Italians and a sad wreck of its
former self. The large barn connected with it was struck by lightning and burned a few years
ago.
The business of the Norris, Gage and Currier taverns was ruined by the building of the back route
railroad from Lewiston, through Greene, Leed, Monmouth and other towns to Waterville, and the
Leeds and Farmington railroad, and Hallowell lost it prestige as a commercial center.
Piper's tavern, still standing on upper Water street, was a noted tavern. Water street was
originally laid out from this house. The handsome wrought-iron sign frame is still in place, bu
the sign long since disappeared. The Fuller tavern on Maintop, built and kept by the late John J.
Fuller, was a favorite house for the traveling public from the country north of Augusta. It was
moved to the west side of Northern avenue, and is now occupied as farmhouse by C. Wesley
Cummings. The old Cushnoc House was build by Amos Partridge in 1803. For eighty-five
years it bore a conspicuous part in the business life of Augusta, especially the period of the Civil
War, 1861-1865. It was ruined by fire, December 1, 1888, and one week later sold with the two
stables adjoining to the Lithgow Library Association for the site of the Lithgow Library.
One of the reminders of stage coach days is the house at Brown's corner, built for a tavern by
Samuel Homans more than a century ago, and occupied more than sixty years by the late Howes
Robbins and his son, Prescott. It was a finely built house, still standing and now used as a
farmhouse. The long bowling alley still remains, though used for other purposes. This is a
favorite resort for pleasure parties in days long gone by, as well as for travelers.
Bachelder's Tavern, in Litchfield, still standing, was a noted tavern in stage coach days from
Augusta to Portland. It was a station for changing horses, and for many years after the passing of
the stage coach a favorite hours for merry-makers in that section.
OP
OP
Gypsy Heart
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From: History of Chautauqua County
New York And Its People
Editors: John P. Downs and Fenwick Y. Hedley
Published by: American Historical Society, Inc,
Boston, New York, Chicago 1921
Many of the early day taverns were due to the liberality of the Holland Land Company, which sold the prospective landlords a tract of land on long-time payments, without interest, at the very lowest price afforded to cash purchasers. This was an attractive proposition, to which was to be added the income arising from conducting a tavern. No extra expense need be incurred in most cases, as not more than one-tenth of all those public houses was more than a log house such as the owner would have built for his own personal use, but perhaps a little larger. Along the lake road, a public house marked about every mile. Among the most noted of the early taverns was James McMahan's, at the Cross Roads, and D. Royce's, at Ripley. The tavern keepers of those days were usually men of strong character, and considerable political influence. Not all the inns sold liquor, as no tavern keeper was licensed who had not a securely enclosed yard large enough to contain all sleighs, wagons, carts or carriages of guests. The early tavern passed gradually away after the coming of the stage coach, and by 1850 hardly one was left In their place came the Village Inn, thus described by Charles Dickens.
"The great room with its low ceiled and neatly sanded floor; its bright pewter dishes, and stout backed slat-bottomed chairs ranged along the walls, its long table, its huge fireplace with the benches on either side where the dogs slept at night and where the guests sat, when the dipped candles were lighted to drink mull and flip, possessed some attractions for every one. The place was at once the town hall and assembly room, the court house and the show tent, the tavern and the exchange.
On Its doors were fastened the list of names drawn for the jury, notices of vendues, offers of reward for stray cattle, the names of tavern haunters and advertisements of the farmers who had the best seed potatoes and the best seed corn for sale. It was there that wandering showmen exhibited their automatons and musical clocks, that dancing masters gave their lessons, that singing school was held, that the caucus met, that the Colonel stopped during general training. Hither came the farmers from the back country bringing their food in boxes and their horses food In bags, to save paying the landlord more than lodging rates. Hither many a clear night in winter came sleighloads of young men and women to dance and romp and go home by the light of the moon. Hither too on Saturdays came the male population of the village. They wrangled over politics, made bets, played tricks, and fell into disputes which were sure to lead to jumping matches or wrestling matches or trials of strength on the village green. As the shadows lengthened the loungers dispersed, the tavern was closed and quiet settled upon the town."
This was a good description of the Village Inn of the decade 1840-50, and for half a century later it would apply to many a rural tavern with a fair degree of accuracy.
In Arkwright, Isaiah Martin built the first frame house and kept the first tavern on the fann he bought in 1821 in the southeastern part of the town. In connection with it he kept a store for several years. He had ten children, but only one, a son, George W., remained long in the town.
The first hotel in Busti was built by Heman Bush, and there the first town meeting was held, March 2, 1824. The old hotel was standing at the beginning of the twentieth century and used as a residence. In Carroll, John Myers opened a tavern in 1814 on the Conewango, about a mile from Frewsburg, and the same year William Sears established one in now Kiantone, John Owens opening another in 1816 at Fentonville, where he also operated a ferry. These taverns were much frequented by raftsmen, boatmen and prospective settlers, and it is said raftsmen would quarrel for the privilege of a sleeping space on the bar-room floor, that they might enjoy Owens' stories. Owens was a soldier of the Revolution, from Connecticut, and claimed that he never found but one his better in a fair "stand up" fight He died in Carroll, February 6, 1843, aged 107 years, ten months, eight days. John Myers was also an early tavern keeper of Carroll, and is described as "goodnatured and shrewd, enjoying life, while having an eye always open for business." He had thirteen children.
Samuel Sinclear and Jonathan Hedges were the first innkeepers in Charlotte. In the town of Chautauqua, Capt. John Scott built an inn of logs on the site of the later Mayville House. He was supervisor in 1813, but left Mayville about 1826. In 1808, George Lowry opened a primitive inn at Mayville, and Waterman Tinkcom was an early settler and innkeeper. In 1811, the county being fully organized, Capt Scott enlarged his log tavern by adding a frame addition which was used as a court house; the first court of record was held there in June, 1811, and in October the board of supervisors met there.
William Peacock, agent for the Holland Land Company, built a handsome residence at Mayville, now known as the Peacock Inn, having been a public house for many years.
Alvin Williams kept the first tavern in Clymer, in 1826, and in Cherry Creek, George H. Frost was the first settler with a family, the first tavern keeper, and the first postmaster. For many years he was supervisor.
Lay's Tavern was a well known place of entertainment near the Lake shore in what is now the city of Dunkirk in 1813, and was at one time plundered by the sailors and men from an English vessel. Prior to 1837, Walter Smith, Dunkirk's most valuable citizen of that period, began the erection of a large brick hotel to be known as the Loder House, but when the financial panic of 1837 swept the country, work was stopped, and for thirteen years, "the great unfinished Loder House was the home of bats and owls.
The first hotel in the town of Ellicott was built in Jamestown by Jacob Fenton, who settled there in 1814 a Revolutionary soldier from Connecticut With the aid. of Judge Prendergast, he erected a fine tavern for that period, fronting the Chadakoin at the Keelboat landing, east of Main street and south of Second street In 1817 Jacob Fenton established a pottery at now Fluvanna, which he conducted until 1822. The cups and saucers made in the Fenton pottery have not all been destroyed, but some are yet preserved as antiques in Jamestown homes. Jamestown has always had good hotels. The present "Samuel's," a modern hotel, replacing the Sherman House, which was destroyed in the great "Gokey Block fire."
In Ellington, James Bates in 1815 settled on lot 48, later known as the George L. Wade place, and there kept the first tavern in town. Later, in the same place, Alamanson Hadley and Henry McConnell kept a tavern, while about a mile east, on the old Chautauqua road, Benjamin Follet kept a log tavern until 1822, when he was succeeded by Lucretia French. Joshua Bentley erected a frame building at Olds Corners, and kept tavern about 1823, and about 1826 Stephen Nichols erected a frame building at Gear Creek which was also a house of public entertainment.
William Graves kept the first tavern in French Creek, he building the first grist mill in the town, both in 1822.
The village of Vermont, now Gerry, in the town of Gerry, was originally known as Bucklin's Corners, from the fact that in 1820 James Bucklin opened a hotel there.
The first hotel mentioned in the town of Harmony was opened in Panama, in 1827, and later Jesse Smith built a tavern on the corner, which was a hotel site until the present brick building was erected.
William G. Sidney kept the Cattaraugus House at Cattaraugus, in the town of Hanover, selling to Capt John Mack, whose daughter Elizabeth was married at the Cattaraugus House in 1807 to Judge Richard Smith, theirs the first marriage in the town.
William Sears is credited with erecting the first Inn in Kiantone, at what was then Sears, now the village of Kiantone; later he built another tavern on his farm, and there resided until his death.
Joseph Clark, well known among the early settlers of the town of Poland, kept a tavern near the saw mill on Mud Creek, now Clark's Corners.
In 1808, Hezekiah Barker built his log tavern in the town of Pomfret, in now Fredonia, the log tavern standing on the site of the later Taylor House. Mr. Barker also built the first saw mill above the Main street bridge, and the first grist mill below the bridge. Richard Williams built a log tavern near the later site of the Pemberton House. The Columbia was a noted Fredonia hotel of half a century ago.
James Dunn, the first settler in the town of Portland, came in 1805, and in 1808 opened a tavern on the road surveyed by James McMahan in 1805.
John Post, an early settler of Ripley and builder of the first tannery in that town, bought a farm in East Ripley and built a house which was kept as a tavern for many years. Samuel Truesdale kept the first tavern at the State Line in-the town of Ripley in 1805. Later James Truesdale built a tavern called the State Line House, the main building in Pennsylvania, the other buildings in Ripley. That tavern was later torn down and a church built upon the site. Perry G. Ellsworth, Oliver Loomis, Elihu Murray, Asa Spear, Henry Fairchild, David Royce and John Post were all early tavern keepers in Ripley.
Orsamus Holmes, a soldier of the Revolution from Massachusetts, came to the town of Sheridan in 1804, brought his family in 1805, kept the first tavern in the town, was postmaster, and a highly respected citizen. William Griswold kept the first tavern at the "Center," where he located in 1805. Prtor's Inn was located at Roberts Corners in 1812, but burned prior to 1815. Benjamin Roberts settled on lot in 1811, later moving to the location which long bore his name, where he kept a hotel. He made frequent additions to the original house until the Roberts Hotel was considered quite spacious. Benjamin Roberts kept the hotel until his death in 1836, his son Abner succeeding him. The Kensington tavern was . established probably about 1812 and changed landlords many times before being torn down in 1865. Richard Huyck kept a tavern on the same road about one mile distant from the Kensington tavern, the fine stretch of gravel road between the two being used as a race course. There were at one time seven taverns in the town, but so great was the demand for accommodations from emigrants that often people were turned away. The Orsamus Holmes Tavern, the first in Sheridan, and also the first post office, was the second office established in the county. The original name of the office was Canadaway.
Bela Todd started a log tavern in the town of Stockton in 1814, and John West kept a log, then a frame, tavern for twenty-five years, Jonathan Bugbee began business as a hotel man in 1821, at Centralia, in the southern part of the town. In 1816, Ichabod Fisher had a tavern in Cassadaga and Amos Brunson engaged in the same business in 1824
Villeroy Balcom, the first postmaster, as well as justice of the peace and supervisor, opened tavern in Villenova in 1829.
The first tavern in Chautauqua county was kept by Edward McHenry, who settled next to James McMahan in 1802. Edward McHenry was drowned in 1803, and it is recorded that Col. Nathan Bird, who came in 1815, kept for years a "free tavern" for emigrants at his house. The first town meeting was held at The Westfield House, April 7, 1829, and Westfield has never lacked for good houses of public entertainment
The resorts of Chautauqua county are well furnished with modern hotels, the Lake villages of Chautauqua, Lalcewood, Bemus Point, Lily Dale, Findley Lake, and other summer resorts, boasting large and modern houses of public entertainment The cities and larger villages also maintain good hotels for the accommodation of transient and permanent guests. The outlawing of the liquor traffic has changed the character of the modern hotel, and as the change becomes more apparent and better understood the hotels themselves will be great gainers.
The following paper was read before Jamestown Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, by the author, Mrs. Seth W. Thompson, March 14, 1912:
To quite comprehend the necessity and environment of these taverns, one must go back to our pioneer days - no railroads, telephones or electric light, not even kerosene. Dreadful roads, sometimes corduroy; houses few and small - travel was largely on foot or by lumber wagon or horseback Of course, traveling under such difficulties necessitated many and frequent stops for rest and refreshment On the most important roads, there were taverns from one-half a mile to seven miles apart, many where liquor was sold. Every little burg had its tavern. Very many emigrant wagons were going westward, and many droves of cattle were driven eastward for market in the seaboard cities. On the completion of the Erie railroad, these emigrant wagons disappeared, together with the country taverns. The stage routes running east and west were abandoned about the same time. Quoting from "History of Chautauqua County":
In a trip along the Ridge Road of Lake Erie, the traveler will note the long line of desolation In ghostly hotels once gay and joyous with ringing laughter, sent to oblivion and trampled under foot by the Iron horse and his train of thundering cars.
The frequency of the tavern was due in early years to the rough and muddy roads that were almost impassable in the inclement seasons of the year, which made short distances long for the heavy wagons and slow moving teams of those days. It would be a mistake to suppose these taverns were devoted solely to revelry and drink. The great open fireplaces, piled with blazing logs, the tables loaded with good cheer, the kindness and old fashioned hospitality of the landlord and his wife, made these old hotels welcome havens of rest to the chilled and wearied traveler who was compelled to face the storms of Chautauqua winter.
My earliest recollections go back to an old inn, or tavern, as it was called, halfway between Ellicottville and Franklinville. It was a strictly temperance house, and because it was so very much like very many others of that thy, I will dwell upon it: A rather large house, with eaves to the road; a platform across the front, with one door opening into the bar-room, another into the sitting-room. The bar-room had a very large fireplace, the sitting-room a Franklin stove. Then there was a very large kitchen where the cooking was done over a mammoth fireplace. This room also served as dining room. Three bedrooms below and pantry, completed the downstairs. Above were two large rooms.
The landlord came of a family of scholars, and ought to have been the village doctor or pastor. The landlady was all ambition and energy, and kept up the reputation of the house. I knew this house as a five-year old; going back at ten, I was sadly disappointed to see how much smaller and more commonplace it seemed than I had remembered it. A few years ago a midmght fire entirely consumed it; the family were saved by the frantic barking of their little dog, who perished with the house.
At seven, I was again near neighbor to the tavern at Rutledge, called the McGlashen House. This was larger than most, and held many country dances. A little older, I was again next neighbor to a country tavern with its large ballroom and country dances. These, I imagine, were a little rough. With a bar-room below, and no exclusiveness as to attendance, it was well to be a descendant of New England pilgrims, who committed a deadly sin to dance or play cards. In both of these hotels I heard whispers of dark rooms where gambling was carried on.
We heard much of the tavern at Waterborough, of the drinking, and its bad reputation. I never pass it now without wishing its old walls could tell its story. It looked very uninviting now. There was said to be a gang of horse thieves that passed through Cherry Creek, Conewango, Waterborough, and down the river, with unsuspected stations all around. A few years later, some arrests were made, and some families left very unexpectedly for the Far West, and the rumors died out
As an older school girl, I was at Ellington. This hotel was a more pretentious house, and had a better reputation. While we were at school, the house was kept by a bachelor and two maiden sisters. The brother wished to hold a dance, and the sisters objected. The older sister knelt on the stairs and prayed long and earnestly; she had a wonderful gift. I remember, as the guests had to pass her to reach the hall, and she was as much proprietor as the brother was, the dance was broken up; and I think she rather had the sympathy of the students, as having as good a right to do as she wished, as he had. This house was burned in 1861, and was never rebuilt.
There seems a strange fatality hanging over these old historic inns, built of wood and very combustible. Their usefulness passed; often occupying valuable sites, uncared for, they seem to be doomed. The last months of 1911 saw the last of a hotel at Gerry, and one at Falconer. The first month of this year (1912) the old hotel at Clear Creek meets a like fate.
Button's Inn has been made famous by the very interesting work of Albion Tourgee. One reads the book with much interest, and thinks he really knows so much about that interesting spot But knowing it is a novel, you are prepared to leave -out much of the love story, (although you hate to) the conversations and minor things, but you hold to the ghost, the Mormons, and some interesting legends. You will be sorry if, after reading the book and half believing it, you turn to the preface and find that the ghost was not the real one, and that the story did not all center around the Inn. But the Inn was there, and I must perforce quote from the book:
Button Inn stands,-let me not say stands, since all the name imports has disappeared, and the wayfarer now can scarcely trace the footprints of its departed glory. It stood on a little shelf in the line of verdant hills that stretches along the Southern shores of Lake Erie. Three miles away and five hundred feet below, was Barcelona, to which the road led that ran by its door. Even yet there are few more romantic scenes, cosier nooks, or wilder bits, than are found around Its site. It commanded in fair weather a view of the shore line for ten miles in either direction from the little harbor, and the light from its windows was visible upon the lake for a greater distance than it was from Barcelona lighthouse, and was claimed to be a safer guide than. that was. The Inn itself was a rambIing structure that had grown up around the original log house that was built before this portage was abandoned for the longer but safer and easier one at Erie. It was built as fort and residence, its upper story overlapping the lower one to prevent assault. Tradition gives its locating and building to a L'Hounete Boutonne, but does not know whether he was a deserter from the army or one of the very earliest and hardiest of those very adventurous French pioneers, and chose this location because of its very extensive outlook and its easy access to the impassable gorge in its rear made it possible to bid defiance to any number of savage foes. He must have been a bold man, or he would not have dared to make his dwelling a hundred miles from his nearest people, and a shrewd one to have fixed upon a location combining as many and such rare advantages, satisfying at once the demands of a strategist and the instincts of a poet
Tradition says he married a fair haired English girl, whom he found a captive among the Indians, and bought He passed away before the English really came into possession, and his son and his son's son succeeded him in turn as hosts of the Ian, the Holland Land Company confirming their rights to their land. The Inn had for its sign a fearfully and wonderfully painted Indian smoking the pipe of peace, and the name was spelled Bouton, a great descent from the beautiful old French name, but had not then reached the very commonplace name of Button, that is now the name of his very numerous descendants.
The old original log house that formed the first Inn, had been boarded over and held the place of honor as the public room. On either side were modern additions, and a low broad porch extended across the front of the original gable and its numerous additions. Across the road were the barns and sheds, before which stood a great trough supplied with water from a spring in the rear of the house. The downward slope in the rear of the barns was covered with apple trees, and rich meadows lay beyond. For more years than any record tells, this Inn was the favorite for many a mile on the great highway that joined the newest West to the oldest East, as well as upon that cross artery of traffic which led back from the harbor towards the settlements on and around Chautauqua Lake. But at the time of the third Bouton, Lonny by name, its popularity was on the wane. T
New York And Its People
Editors: John P. Downs and Fenwick Y. Hedley
Published by: American Historical Society, Inc,
Boston, New York, Chicago 1921
Many of the early day taverns were due to the liberality of the Holland Land Company, which sold the prospective landlords a tract of land on long-time payments, without interest, at the very lowest price afforded to cash purchasers. This was an attractive proposition, to which was to be added the income arising from conducting a tavern. No extra expense need be incurred in most cases, as not more than one-tenth of all those public houses was more than a log house such as the owner would have built for his own personal use, but perhaps a little larger. Along the lake road, a public house marked about every mile. Among the most noted of the early taverns was James McMahan's, at the Cross Roads, and D. Royce's, at Ripley. The tavern keepers of those days were usually men of strong character, and considerable political influence. Not all the inns sold liquor, as no tavern keeper was licensed who had not a securely enclosed yard large enough to contain all sleighs, wagons, carts or carriages of guests. The early tavern passed gradually away after the coming of the stage coach, and by 1850 hardly one was left In their place came the Village Inn, thus described by Charles Dickens.
"The great room with its low ceiled and neatly sanded floor; its bright pewter dishes, and stout backed slat-bottomed chairs ranged along the walls, its long table, its huge fireplace with the benches on either side where the dogs slept at night and where the guests sat, when the dipped candles were lighted to drink mull and flip, possessed some attractions for every one. The place was at once the town hall and assembly room, the court house and the show tent, the tavern and the exchange.
On Its doors were fastened the list of names drawn for the jury, notices of vendues, offers of reward for stray cattle, the names of tavern haunters and advertisements of the farmers who had the best seed potatoes and the best seed corn for sale. It was there that wandering showmen exhibited their automatons and musical clocks, that dancing masters gave their lessons, that singing school was held, that the caucus met, that the Colonel stopped during general training. Hither came the farmers from the back country bringing their food in boxes and their horses food In bags, to save paying the landlord more than lodging rates. Hither many a clear night in winter came sleighloads of young men and women to dance and romp and go home by the light of the moon. Hither too on Saturdays came the male population of the village. They wrangled over politics, made bets, played tricks, and fell into disputes which were sure to lead to jumping matches or wrestling matches or trials of strength on the village green. As the shadows lengthened the loungers dispersed, the tavern was closed and quiet settled upon the town."
This was a good description of the Village Inn of the decade 1840-50, and for half a century later it would apply to many a rural tavern with a fair degree of accuracy.
In Arkwright, Isaiah Martin built the first frame house and kept the first tavern on the fann he bought in 1821 in the southeastern part of the town. In connection with it he kept a store for several years. He had ten children, but only one, a son, George W., remained long in the town.
The first hotel in Busti was built by Heman Bush, and there the first town meeting was held, March 2, 1824. The old hotel was standing at the beginning of the twentieth century and used as a residence. In Carroll, John Myers opened a tavern in 1814 on the Conewango, about a mile from Frewsburg, and the same year William Sears established one in now Kiantone, John Owens opening another in 1816 at Fentonville, where he also operated a ferry. These taverns were much frequented by raftsmen, boatmen and prospective settlers, and it is said raftsmen would quarrel for the privilege of a sleeping space on the bar-room floor, that they might enjoy Owens' stories. Owens was a soldier of the Revolution, from Connecticut, and claimed that he never found but one his better in a fair "stand up" fight He died in Carroll, February 6, 1843, aged 107 years, ten months, eight days. John Myers was also an early tavern keeper of Carroll, and is described as "goodnatured and shrewd, enjoying life, while having an eye always open for business." He had thirteen children.
Samuel Sinclear and Jonathan Hedges were the first innkeepers in Charlotte. In the town of Chautauqua, Capt. John Scott built an inn of logs on the site of the later Mayville House. He was supervisor in 1813, but left Mayville about 1826. In 1808, George Lowry opened a primitive inn at Mayville, and Waterman Tinkcom was an early settler and innkeeper. In 1811, the county being fully organized, Capt Scott enlarged his log tavern by adding a frame addition which was used as a court house; the first court of record was held there in June, 1811, and in October the board of supervisors met there.
William Peacock, agent for the Holland Land Company, built a handsome residence at Mayville, now known as the Peacock Inn, having been a public house for many years.
Alvin Williams kept the first tavern in Clymer, in 1826, and in Cherry Creek, George H. Frost was the first settler with a family, the first tavern keeper, and the first postmaster. For many years he was supervisor.
Lay's Tavern was a well known place of entertainment near the Lake shore in what is now the city of Dunkirk in 1813, and was at one time plundered by the sailors and men from an English vessel. Prior to 1837, Walter Smith, Dunkirk's most valuable citizen of that period, began the erection of a large brick hotel to be known as the Loder House, but when the financial panic of 1837 swept the country, work was stopped, and for thirteen years, "the great unfinished Loder House was the home of bats and owls.
The first hotel in the town of Ellicott was built in Jamestown by Jacob Fenton, who settled there in 1814 a Revolutionary soldier from Connecticut With the aid. of Judge Prendergast, he erected a fine tavern for that period, fronting the Chadakoin at the Keelboat landing, east of Main street and south of Second street In 1817 Jacob Fenton established a pottery at now Fluvanna, which he conducted until 1822. The cups and saucers made in the Fenton pottery have not all been destroyed, but some are yet preserved as antiques in Jamestown homes. Jamestown has always had good hotels. The present "Samuel's," a modern hotel, replacing the Sherman House, which was destroyed in the great "Gokey Block fire."
In Ellington, James Bates in 1815 settled on lot 48, later known as the George L. Wade place, and there kept the first tavern in town. Later, in the same place, Alamanson Hadley and Henry McConnell kept a tavern, while about a mile east, on the old Chautauqua road, Benjamin Follet kept a log tavern until 1822, when he was succeeded by Lucretia French. Joshua Bentley erected a frame building at Olds Corners, and kept tavern about 1823, and about 1826 Stephen Nichols erected a frame building at Gear Creek which was also a house of public entertainment.
William Graves kept the first tavern in French Creek, he building the first grist mill in the town, both in 1822.
The village of Vermont, now Gerry, in the town of Gerry, was originally known as Bucklin's Corners, from the fact that in 1820 James Bucklin opened a hotel there.
The first hotel mentioned in the town of Harmony was opened in Panama, in 1827, and later Jesse Smith built a tavern on the corner, which was a hotel site until the present brick building was erected.
William G. Sidney kept the Cattaraugus House at Cattaraugus, in the town of Hanover, selling to Capt John Mack, whose daughter Elizabeth was married at the Cattaraugus House in 1807 to Judge Richard Smith, theirs the first marriage in the town.
William Sears is credited with erecting the first Inn in Kiantone, at what was then Sears, now the village of Kiantone; later he built another tavern on his farm, and there resided until his death.
Joseph Clark, well known among the early settlers of the town of Poland, kept a tavern near the saw mill on Mud Creek, now Clark's Corners.
In 1808, Hezekiah Barker built his log tavern in the town of Pomfret, in now Fredonia, the log tavern standing on the site of the later Taylor House. Mr. Barker also built the first saw mill above the Main street bridge, and the first grist mill below the bridge. Richard Williams built a log tavern near the later site of the Pemberton House. The Columbia was a noted Fredonia hotel of half a century ago.
James Dunn, the first settler in the town of Portland, came in 1805, and in 1808 opened a tavern on the road surveyed by James McMahan in 1805.
John Post, an early settler of Ripley and builder of the first tannery in that town, bought a farm in East Ripley and built a house which was kept as a tavern for many years. Samuel Truesdale kept the first tavern at the State Line in-the town of Ripley in 1805. Later James Truesdale built a tavern called the State Line House, the main building in Pennsylvania, the other buildings in Ripley. That tavern was later torn down and a church built upon the site. Perry G. Ellsworth, Oliver Loomis, Elihu Murray, Asa Spear, Henry Fairchild, David Royce and John Post were all early tavern keepers in Ripley.
Orsamus Holmes, a soldier of the Revolution from Massachusetts, came to the town of Sheridan in 1804, brought his family in 1805, kept the first tavern in the town, was postmaster, and a highly respected citizen. William Griswold kept the first tavern at the "Center," where he located in 1805. Prtor's Inn was located at Roberts Corners in 1812, but burned prior to 1815. Benjamin Roberts settled on lot in 1811, later moving to the location which long bore his name, where he kept a hotel. He made frequent additions to the original house until the Roberts Hotel was considered quite spacious. Benjamin Roberts kept the hotel until his death in 1836, his son Abner succeeding him. The Kensington tavern was . established probably about 1812 and changed landlords many times before being torn down in 1865. Richard Huyck kept a tavern on the same road about one mile distant from the Kensington tavern, the fine stretch of gravel road between the two being used as a race course. There were at one time seven taverns in the town, but so great was the demand for accommodations from emigrants that often people were turned away. The Orsamus Holmes Tavern, the first in Sheridan, and also the first post office, was the second office established in the county. The original name of the office was Canadaway.
Bela Todd started a log tavern in the town of Stockton in 1814, and John West kept a log, then a frame, tavern for twenty-five years, Jonathan Bugbee began business as a hotel man in 1821, at Centralia, in the southern part of the town. In 1816, Ichabod Fisher had a tavern in Cassadaga and Amos Brunson engaged in the same business in 1824
Villeroy Balcom, the first postmaster, as well as justice of the peace and supervisor, opened tavern in Villenova in 1829.
The first tavern in Chautauqua county was kept by Edward McHenry, who settled next to James McMahan in 1802. Edward McHenry was drowned in 1803, and it is recorded that Col. Nathan Bird, who came in 1815, kept for years a "free tavern" for emigrants at his house. The first town meeting was held at The Westfield House, April 7, 1829, and Westfield has never lacked for good houses of public entertainment
The resorts of Chautauqua county are well furnished with modern hotels, the Lake villages of Chautauqua, Lalcewood, Bemus Point, Lily Dale, Findley Lake, and other summer resorts, boasting large and modern houses of public entertainment The cities and larger villages also maintain good hotels for the accommodation of transient and permanent guests. The outlawing of the liquor traffic has changed the character of the modern hotel, and as the change becomes more apparent and better understood the hotels themselves will be great gainers.
The following paper was read before Jamestown Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, by the author, Mrs. Seth W. Thompson, March 14, 1912:
To quite comprehend the necessity and environment of these taverns, one must go back to our pioneer days - no railroads, telephones or electric light, not even kerosene. Dreadful roads, sometimes corduroy; houses few and small - travel was largely on foot or by lumber wagon or horseback Of course, traveling under such difficulties necessitated many and frequent stops for rest and refreshment On the most important roads, there were taverns from one-half a mile to seven miles apart, many where liquor was sold. Every little burg had its tavern. Very many emigrant wagons were going westward, and many droves of cattle were driven eastward for market in the seaboard cities. On the completion of the Erie railroad, these emigrant wagons disappeared, together with the country taverns. The stage routes running east and west were abandoned about the same time. Quoting from "History of Chautauqua County":
In a trip along the Ridge Road of Lake Erie, the traveler will note the long line of desolation In ghostly hotels once gay and joyous with ringing laughter, sent to oblivion and trampled under foot by the Iron horse and his train of thundering cars.
The frequency of the tavern was due in early years to the rough and muddy roads that were almost impassable in the inclement seasons of the year, which made short distances long for the heavy wagons and slow moving teams of those days. It would be a mistake to suppose these taverns were devoted solely to revelry and drink. The great open fireplaces, piled with blazing logs, the tables loaded with good cheer, the kindness and old fashioned hospitality of the landlord and his wife, made these old hotels welcome havens of rest to the chilled and wearied traveler who was compelled to face the storms of Chautauqua winter.
My earliest recollections go back to an old inn, or tavern, as it was called, halfway between Ellicottville and Franklinville. It was a strictly temperance house, and because it was so very much like very many others of that thy, I will dwell upon it: A rather large house, with eaves to the road; a platform across the front, with one door opening into the bar-room, another into the sitting-room. The bar-room had a very large fireplace, the sitting-room a Franklin stove. Then there was a very large kitchen where the cooking was done over a mammoth fireplace. This room also served as dining room. Three bedrooms below and pantry, completed the downstairs. Above were two large rooms.
The landlord came of a family of scholars, and ought to have been the village doctor or pastor. The landlady was all ambition and energy, and kept up the reputation of the house. I knew this house as a five-year old; going back at ten, I was sadly disappointed to see how much smaller and more commonplace it seemed than I had remembered it. A few years ago a midmght fire entirely consumed it; the family were saved by the frantic barking of their little dog, who perished with the house.
At seven, I was again near neighbor to the tavern at Rutledge, called the McGlashen House. This was larger than most, and held many country dances. A little older, I was again next neighbor to a country tavern with its large ballroom and country dances. These, I imagine, were a little rough. With a bar-room below, and no exclusiveness as to attendance, it was well to be a descendant of New England pilgrims, who committed a deadly sin to dance or play cards. In both of these hotels I heard whispers of dark rooms where gambling was carried on.
We heard much of the tavern at Waterborough, of the drinking, and its bad reputation. I never pass it now without wishing its old walls could tell its story. It looked very uninviting now. There was said to be a gang of horse thieves that passed through Cherry Creek, Conewango, Waterborough, and down the river, with unsuspected stations all around. A few years later, some arrests were made, and some families left very unexpectedly for the Far West, and the rumors died out
As an older school girl, I was at Ellington. This hotel was a more pretentious house, and had a better reputation. While we were at school, the house was kept by a bachelor and two maiden sisters. The brother wished to hold a dance, and the sisters objected. The older sister knelt on the stairs and prayed long and earnestly; she had a wonderful gift. I remember, as the guests had to pass her to reach the hall, and she was as much proprietor as the brother was, the dance was broken up; and I think she rather had the sympathy of the students, as having as good a right to do as she wished, as he had. This house was burned in 1861, and was never rebuilt.
There seems a strange fatality hanging over these old historic inns, built of wood and very combustible. Their usefulness passed; often occupying valuable sites, uncared for, they seem to be doomed. The last months of 1911 saw the last of a hotel at Gerry, and one at Falconer. The first month of this year (1912) the old hotel at Clear Creek meets a like fate.
Button's Inn has been made famous by the very interesting work of Albion Tourgee. One reads the book with much interest, and thinks he really knows so much about that interesting spot But knowing it is a novel, you are prepared to leave -out much of the love story, (although you hate to) the conversations and minor things, but you hold to the ghost, the Mormons, and some interesting legends. You will be sorry if, after reading the book and half believing it, you turn to the preface and find that the ghost was not the real one, and that the story did not all center around the Inn. But the Inn was there, and I must perforce quote from the book:
Button Inn stands,-let me not say stands, since all the name imports has disappeared, and the wayfarer now can scarcely trace the footprints of its departed glory. It stood on a little shelf in the line of verdant hills that stretches along the Southern shores of Lake Erie. Three miles away and five hundred feet below, was Barcelona, to which the road led that ran by its door. Even yet there are few more romantic scenes, cosier nooks, or wilder bits, than are found around Its site. It commanded in fair weather a view of the shore line for ten miles in either direction from the little harbor, and the light from its windows was visible upon the lake for a greater distance than it was from Barcelona lighthouse, and was claimed to be a safer guide than. that was. The Inn itself was a rambIing structure that had grown up around the original log house that was built before this portage was abandoned for the longer but safer and easier one at Erie. It was built as fort and residence, its upper story overlapping the lower one to prevent assault. Tradition gives its locating and building to a L'Hounete Boutonne, but does not know whether he was a deserter from the army or one of the very earliest and hardiest of those very adventurous French pioneers, and chose this location because of its very extensive outlook and its easy access to the impassable gorge in its rear made it possible to bid defiance to any number of savage foes. He must have been a bold man, or he would not have dared to make his dwelling a hundred miles from his nearest people, and a shrewd one to have fixed upon a location combining as many and such rare advantages, satisfying at once the demands of a strategist and the instincts of a poet
Tradition says he married a fair haired English girl, whom he found a captive among the Indians, and bought He passed away before the English really came into possession, and his son and his son's son succeeded him in turn as hosts of the Ian, the Holland Land Company confirming their rights to their land. The Inn had for its sign a fearfully and wonderfully painted Indian smoking the pipe of peace, and the name was spelled Bouton, a great descent from the beautiful old French name, but had not then reached the very commonplace name of Button, that is now the name of his very numerous descendants.
The old original log house that formed the first Inn, had been boarded over and held the place of honor as the public room. On either side were modern additions, and a low broad porch extended across the front of the original gable and its numerous additions. Across the road were the barns and sheds, before which stood a great trough supplied with water from a spring in the rear of the house. The downward slope in the rear of the barns was covered with apple trees, and rich meadows lay beyond. For more years than any record tells, this Inn was the favorite for many a mile on the great highway that joined the newest West to the oldest East, as well as upon that cross artery of traffic which led back from the harbor towards the settlements on and around Chautauqua Lake. But at the time of the third Bouton, Lonny by name, its popularity was on the wane. T
Blacksheep
Bronze Member
Hope you don't mind me adding one from Wisconsin, this was/is a great thread. 
http://wadehouse.wisconsinhistory.org/Explore/StageCoachInn/WadeHouse.aspx
http://wadehouse.wisconsinhistory.org/Explore/StageCoachInn/WadeHouse.aspx
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Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
- Thread starter
- #17
Blacksheep said:Hope you don't mind me adding one from Wisconsin, this was/is a great thread.
http://wadehouse.wisconsinhistory.org/Explore/StageCoachInn/WadeHouse.aspx
Cool Link....I have been to the Wade House many many times
Blacksheep
Bronze Member
I`ll be in that area today, greenbush/glenbulah, taking my boys out to see a few areas i used to
dig, hopefully they`ll catch the "bug".
We`ll be concentrating on an old railroad right-of-way and a few back-forty dumps.
dig, hopefully they`ll catch the "bug".
We`ll be concentrating on an old railroad right-of-way and a few back-forty dumps.
nelsongrigg
Jr. Member
- Sep 28, 2013
- 30
- 5
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
love this one Site plan and notes, Julian House, Franklinville, North Carolina (Julian House (Franklinville, N.C.)) - bh021501701 - NCSU Libraries' Rare and Unique Digital Collections been there and was able to look around due to family owns it,,,,, found a concrete slab about 4' x 5' with a hard hit under the slab,,,,, weather not allowed us to dig it up yet though
surf
Silver Member
- Jan 10, 2013
- 2,832
- 1,458
- Detector(s) used
- seeing eye shovel
- Primary Interest:
- Other
Whoa, some powerful thread necro going on today. 
Nelson,
Welcome to this place. Best of luck in searching that place. It looks like it could be very rewarding from several perspectives. Find the dump & privies, will'ya…
Nelson,
Welcome to this place. Best of luck in searching that place. It looks like it could be very rewarding from several perspectives. Find the dump & privies, will'ya…
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