Warren County
Local History by Dallas Bogan |
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Dallas Bogan on 18 September 2004 |
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original article by Dallas Bogan |
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There is nothing which has been contrived by man which
so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.
Samuel Johnson
Ohio had not yet become a state when a law was adopted in the Northwest Territory
that purposed to govern the licensing and regulating of taverns. After the Indian
Peace Treaty, in 1795, a great migratory trend began flowing into the Ohio lands.
As the pioneer forged through the woodlands of the new Ohio country, shelters
were sought. The first settler of an area, anxious to inspire others to build
in his part of the wilderness, opened his house as an inn.
Law, as was mentioned previously, governed these early taverns. Its purpose
was declared to be "For preventing disorder and mischiefs that may happen
by multiplicity of public houses of entertainment."
A requirement of the law was that every keeper of a public tavern, ale-house,
or public house of entertainment, be licensed by the Governor of the territory
on recommendation of the court of quarter sessions.
Original payment fixed for the license was four dollars to the Governor and
twelve dollars for the county. This fee of $16 for keeping tavern in a log house
in a new country was undoubtedly high, and so in 1800, it was lowered to $4,
$8 or $12 at the judgment of the court.
Ohio taverns licenses for years maintained a minimum fee of $4. Other early
Ohio license fees were for selling goods and operation of a ferry. The retailing
merchandise fee was $10 while keeping a ferry ranged from $4 to $18.
Laws regarding the business of tavern keeping were duplicated from the regulatory
laws in the older colonies and were quite unsuited to the conditions of the
Northwest Territory. These laws, unchanging for the most part, were kept on
the statutes of Ohio's books, believing, that the State would soon grow up to
them.
The requirements for obtaining a tavern license in Ohio were as follows: The
applicant must be of good moral character; the tavern must be necessary at the
place designated; the applicant must furnish suitable accommodations; and the
applicant must be a suitable person to keep tavern.
A respectable woman could, in Ohio, obtain a license to run an inn, but in New
England the law required that should an inn-keeper die, his widow must provide
a fit man that is Godly to manage the business.
There were two different groups of taverns in the new Ohio territory. The
first group was the taverns that initially cared for the overland and inland
transport systems before the coming of the railroad. The second group of taverns
served the roving and local trade.
The first group served the pack-trains, the wagoners and their freighters, which
consisted of thirty to forty tarpaulin-covered wagons in the line (not to be
confused with the Conestogas with their human freight), and the drovers with
large herds of cattle, hogs or sheep going and coming between Ohio and the Eastern
markets.
The second group included the taverns of various construction, size and equipment,
which catered to distinct classes of society, such as the emigrant, the entertainer,
the peddler, the Court, the Legislature, the aristocrats, etc. The second group
included the taverns of various construction, size and equipment which catered
to distinct classes of society, or which served all men, such as the emigrant,
the entertainer, the peddler, the court, the legislature, the aristocrats, etc.
Materials engaged in the construction of the early Ohio tavern consisted of
undressed or rough logs, dressed or squared logs, clapboards nailed over the
dressed logs, clapboards on framework, brick which was generally locally burned,
field stone and dressed sandstone.
The log cabin was not the simple construction it appears to be. It took brains
as well as brawn to construct this early shelter. The three general categories
of this early marvel were: the single round, rough or undressed log cabin; the
single dressed or squared log house with mortised end corners; and the double
log house, dressed or undressed, with a hallway, all included under one roof
with a huge chimney at either end.
The frame tavern generally resembled a structure in which the owner/builder
was accustomed to in his native homeplace. Many different styles were used.
Brick was used as a substantial building material for the tavern. Many times
a poor grade of brick was used. The window frames as well as the doorways broke
the walls. The side walls occasionally were extended into stepped gables or
they merged into the wide single or double chimneys on the two top sides of
the tavern roof.
The stone-clad tavern was frequently constructed from native undressed field
stone or from dressed sand-stone. The style consisted of an architectural design,
which was a simple Georgian or Pennsylvania Dutch or Maryland replica.
The tavern, ordinary (an early name for an inn), or inn had its beginnings
in the early age of modern man. Without this occasional stop travelers were
at a great disadvantage.
Bartering was a way of life for early settlers. The inn was frequently a bartering
center. The American colonies used beads, tobacco, codfish, sperm oil, apple-jack,
ginseng, bone, blankets, peltry (rawhide undressed skin of fur-bearing animals
etc.) and numerous other articles including knives and gunpowder for trading
purposes. Farmers met in the tavern in friendly gatherings to discuss the conditions
of the weather, whether too dry for pasture, or too wet for the crops.
Settlers of the Ohio country were one of exile, but, with their happy, enthusiastic
drive for a home of their own, their keen, alert, active minds were fulfilled
to no end. Clearing land, building their log homes, barns, and communities,
brought forth hard work, perseverance and a happy relationship with their neighbor.
The tavern patronizer expressed a life of merriment and enthusiasm. Settlers
came from miles around to dance the quadrille and the Virginia Reel. Young men
appeared in their high silk hats and long-tailed coats, all decked out with
their long trousers or spats buckled under shining pumps.
The young ladies were seated behind the men and wore "Polk" bonnets
laced over their long pretty curls. Their dress was one of finery, countless
folds of linen or linsey-woolsey draped over wide hoopskirts that folded up
along the horse's flank.
Arriving at the community social center, the young lady would dismount and quickly
head for the dressing room. She would, after a short time, emerge in her brightly-
colored calico, or perhaps mayhap silk.
Her hair was serenely parted in the middle and brought back over the tips of
her ears, or if Providence had been kind, clusters of curls would fall over
them which duplicated the style of the times.
Dancing was the highlight of the evening. It was considered the main affair
which was enjoyed by all. Graceful bowing, lively stepping, swinging of partners,
all to the tune of a good old-fashioned fiddle. The dances were not complicated
and were fashioned to the needs of the average citizen.
These gala affairs allowed the participants, for a moment in time, to forget
the homesickness, the always present dangers of travel, the crossing of the
fast- running streams, the memories of muddy roads, and the laborious hills
which most all had to cross.
Many infares took place at the village inn. It was a reception by the parents
or other relatives or friends of the groom to the bride, her family and friends.
It contrasted from the wedding only by the absence of the marriage ceremony.
Great multitudes arrived at the festivity on horseback. In the early days they
rode double. As wealth increased, the horses became more numerous and young
ladies as well as young men maintained their own mounts.
Such occasions called for a method of mounting or dismounting the horse. An
"upping-block," or horse-block was called into play. It consisted
of a three-foot length taken from an oak log three or four feet in diameter.
This was properly placed on end from which the young lady sprang into her saddle.
As time moved on, these slightly imperfect ones made of handsomely carved stone
replaced blocks. Still later, occasionally one was found made of wrought iron.
When a young gentleman was seemingly romantically attached to a certain young
lady, a more intimate method would be used. The young lady would simply place
her dainty foot into the left hand of the cavalier, and with one motion, she
was lightly lifted into the saddle. Young men, showing their suave charisma,
generally disliked the upping-block and would rather place their left foot into
the stirrup and swing into the saddle.
St. Valentine's Day was generally a lively time at the inn. Unmarried grown-ups
mostly attended it.
Old-time singing schools were very popular in the days of old. The ballroom
at the inn was the favorite gathering place for this event. After the singing
there was typically a dance or game in which all participated. The names of
the girls were placed into a hat and drawn at random by the young men.
Another use for the inn was the spelling matches, which made our grandparents
such authorities in the art of English, spelling, etc.
Tecumseh, the mighty Shawnee warrior, threatened the settlers at the newly formed
colony of Springfield in 1807. Men, women and children all rushed to the tavern
of Griffith Foos, and thereby fortified themselves for some days against a threatening
assault, until a treaty was signed and the Indians left without harm to the
settlers.
The early tavern knew the statesmen, scholars, doctors and lawyers; outlaws,
pirates, bullies, ripsnorters; evangelists, circuit-riders, priests, parsons
and pastors; land promoters and salesmen; foreign tourists, and the curious
travelers.
The Indian tribes furnished rest and rejuvenation for the white man in the Ohio
country in the early years of settlement. Loramie's trading post was established
in the Miami Valley not far from present day Piqua.
Some of the Indian guest houses consisted of a framework made up of sturdy saplings,
bent at the top and brought together to form a curved, sloping roof with an
opening near the center to emit the smoke from the fire within. The covering
generally consisted of good-sized pieces of bark or wood slabs.
In 1798, before the actual clearing had been made for the roads, the tavern-keeper
paid $1.00 per bushel for corn; $1.50 per bushel for wheat; $4.00 per 100 pounds
of flour; 65 cents per bushel for potatoes; 75 cents per bushel for oats. From
1800 to 1810 unrefined sugar cost 35 cents per pound; chocolate 3 shillings
6 pence per pound; tobacco 4 cents per yard.
In 1801, board in a backwoods tavern was $1.00 per week, and a fraction of a
week at the rate of $1.50. Indian corn, turnips, pumpkins, cranberries, wild
game, domestic fowl and copper distilled whiskey cost next to nothing. Apples
cost $3.00 per bushel--but the keeper got along without them. Two quarters of
venison sold for 25 cents, butter 10 cents or less per pound. Fish was found
in abundance in the Ohio streams, but the Indians were the only ones to feast
on this delicacy. Few pioneers enjoyed this luxury of the waters.
During the height of the stagecoach era, 1830- 1850, breakfast in the taverns
consisted of ham, beefsteak, fried potatoes, griddle cakes or waffles, spread-stuffs,
and coffee. Supper was served from three to five o'clock; this meal included
ham, turkey, and cucumbers.
The taverns were not a social club in any way. One source says: "All the
Taverns filled with guests in the roughest style of conviviality (festive, jovial,
merry)
from which I infer that the last day of the week in generally devoted to the
orgies of Bacchus by the same classes of people who on the succeeding day, attended
with pious regularity the dogmatic lectures of some fanatick dispenser of the
gospel. What an heterogeneous animal is man!"
Another source says: "The taverns were more noted for innocent past times,
the diffusion of rumors and now and then a rare bit of eloquent opinion as to
how the affairs of the State and Nation ought to be conducted."
In 1793, Griffin Yeatman built the first large tavern in the growing metropolis
of Cincinnati. It was originally an unlathed, unplastered structure. The nails
and hardware for its construction were brought overland from the east to the
point at Pittsburgh and from there boated down the Ohio. This tavern contained
a tap-room, dining hall and ballroom and had a side walk in front of the building,
this possibly being puncheon plans laid in the mire of the river flats.
Another tavern keeper in Cincinnati was Levi McLean. His versatility was displayed
as a tavern keeper, music teacher, butcher and jailer.
Dayton had its first tavern built by George Newcom in 1798-1799. This served
also as his home. It was said to have been the first building in the Miami Valley
chinked and plastered with lime mortar. A boy watching exclaimed, "Colonel
Newcom is plastering his house with flour!" The building was two-story,
contained four rooms, had four windows, and the first store in Dayton was opened
on the second floor in 1800. Newcom's house also served as local jail when necessary,
as the first house of worship and as Dayton's Court House Number One. Most of
the furniture was made from surrounding beech and buckeye trees, the open dresser
being laden with shiny pewter. Above the great fireplace stood tall brass candlesticks
gleaming in the firelight. "The bell on the tall clock so excited the Indians
in the vicinity that they stole up of a night to hear it strike." (This
log structure can be seen in the Carrillon Park in Dayton, Ohio.)
Ephriam Hathaway was proprietor of the Black Horse Tavern (later known as the
Lebanon Hotel and still later as the Golden Lamb Hotel; the present location
was built in 1815 by Jonas Seaman) in Lebanon. This structure was built in 1800.
It was significantly hewed and was used as the first store in the vicinity and
as a substitute court room for the district from 1803 to 1826. Beginning in
1802, three men who gained prominence in the upbuilding of the state made the
tavern their home, Rollin Campbell, Joshua Collett, and Icabod Corwin.
The first public hall in Xenia was held in Jimmie Collier's tavern. During the
War of 1812 it was the seat of Courts of Enquiry and Courts Martial, while at
one time a British Officer and his servant were held prisoner within its walls.
This was the Grand Hotel of the place.
South Charleston was a stopping place on the stage line. Henry Clay and Thomas
Corwin frequented this location while on their way to the Legislature. This
tavern occasionally was used as a temporary jail while enroute to the Columbus
penitentiary.
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This page created 18 September 2004 and last updated
28 September, 2008
© 2004 Arne H Trelvik
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