Tavern Signs

Samuel Johnson, born in 1709, was in his prime about the middle of the eighteen the century. His description of the advantages afforded by a good inn has not yet been surpassed. Here it is:

“There is no private house in which people can enjoy themselves so well as at a capital tavern. Let there be ever so great plenty of good things, ever so much grandeur, ever so much elegance, ever so much desire that everybody should be easy, in the nature of things it cannot be; there must always be some degree of care and anxiety. The master of the house is anxious to entertain his guests; the guests are anxious to be agreeable to him; and no man, but a very impudent dog indeed, can freely command what is in another man’s house as if it were his own. Whereas, at a tavern there is general freedom from anxiety. You are sure you are welcome, and the more noise you make, the more trouble you give, the more good things you call for, the welcomer you are. No servant will attend you with the alacrity which waiters do, who are incited by the prospect of an immediate reward in proportion as they please. No sir, there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good inn.”

Another writer, whose name is unrecorded or lost in the sweep of time, has said that the tavern “is the busy man’s recreation, the idle man’s business, the melancholy man’s sanctuary, the stranger’s welcome.”

Samuel Johnson, if in New York, would not have found at any tavern such congenial companions as at the Turk’s Head, in Soho. New York did not have an Oliver Goldsmith, nor a Sir Joshua Reynolds, nor an Edmund Burke, nor—but Boswell would have been with him. Barring the companionship of such men he could have been made as comfortable at the Queen’s Head in Dock Street as at his familiar tavern in London. He could have taken his cup of tea, his favorite drink, in one of the boxes of the Merchants’ Coffee House and then strolled into Garrat Noel’s bookstore next door where he could have found food for his mind after his corporeal needs had been supplied. Here was literature of the solid sort, as Noel’s announcements in the newspapers inform us, and Dr. Johnson might have easily imagined himself in the bookstore of Tom Davies—one of his familiar haunts.

The accomplished tavern-keeper of New York, as well as of London, knew how to welcome his guest and from long experience instinctively knew how to reach his heart. After receiving him with the most unbounded cordiality, occasionally dropping him a piece of news which he knew would interest him, or one of his newest jokes, he soon made him feel glad to be in his house. When the dinner was ready he was on hand to place the first dish on the table and to give him his company if he saw that it was desirable.

THE OLD TIME LANDLORD

In colonial times signs were extensively used. The hardware dealer placed above his door a sign of Crossed Daggers, or a Golden Handsaw, or a Golden Key; some used the sign of the Crossed Guns. A carriage-maker used the sign of the Gilded Wheel, a tailor that of the Hand and Shears. Thus the business streets were filled with signs, and a well-known or prominent sign was invariably used as a landmark to designate locations of other houses. Tavern signs were much used in this way. Houses were not numbered, and in the low state of education, numbers as well as worded signs would have been of little use. Taverns obtained their names from the signs hung out; and the tavern sign had a wider range of diversity than that of any other business. It was almost unlimited; but there were certain favorites. Sometimes tavern-keepers clung tenaciously to signs which they carried with them from place to place—and the tavern-keeper of colonial times appears to have been a roving character.

“HARD DRINKING PREVAILED”

Some features of tavern life and some of the taverns of New York were not to be commended. The eighteenth century was a period when hard drinking pervaded not only the American colonies but England as well. Even preachers of the Gospel drank to excess. They were known to indulge at church meetings so as to lose control of both speech and gait. Unable to withstand the alluring temptations, they drank to excess without forfeiting the respect of their people. The Reverend Jacob G. Green, of Morris County, New Jersey, although so pious that he would not allow any member of his family to converse on any but religious subjects on a Sunday, did not hesitate to engage in the business of manufacturing distilled liquor. At funerals, as well as at weddings, wine and rum were consumed in excessive quantities, and it is a fact that persons were known to stagger in the funeral procession and at the brink of the grave. At the funeral of a colonial governor it is said that the minister’s nose glowed like a coal of fire, and the aged bearers staggered as they bore the coffin. The Reverend Samuel Melyen, pastor of the First Church of Elizabethtown, was obliged to give up his church on account of intemperance; but this did not seem to the people to be a warning example, for when his successor, Jonathan Dickinson, a young man of twenty-one, was installed, we are told that “great quantities of toddy was consumed.” When Philip Livingston died in 1749, funerals were held both at his Hudson River mansion and at his residence in Broad Street, New York. At each of these places a pipe of spiced rum was consumed, and to the eight bearers were given gloves, mourning rings, scarfs, handkerchiefs and monkey spoons. When intemperance was looked upon with such indulgence it is hardly to be expected that the young and gay men of the period would exercise much restraint; and many a convivial party at the tavern ended in a drinking bout, and sometimes in a riot of drunkenness and debauchery. A man in the condition which we of the present day would think quite drunk, and a proper subject for the care of his friends or relatives, was at that time considered to have taken only a proper modicum of drink. No man was looked upon as drunk until he was entirely down and out. The prevailing formula was:

GOOD OLD MADEIRA

In New England rum was so extensively made that the price became as low as twenty-five cents per gallon. It was popularly called “Kill-devil.” In New Jersey large quantities of apple-jack were turned out, which, when new, was quite fiery, and this was called “Jersey lightning.” Servants were not expected to be entirely free from the drinking habit, which, within certain bounds, was looked upon by their employers as pardonable. Announcement was made in the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury of December 4, 1769, that

In the middle of the eighteenth century we find that New Yorkers were fond of all kinds of sports and all kinds of amusements that were available. The city was making rapid strides in increase of wealth and population. Many of her wealthy merchants had built large and handsome houses and there was more gaiety and desire for entertainment among her people. For balls, banquets, social clubs and exhibition of all sorts, each tavern of importance had, if possible, its “long room.” There was no other provision or place for public assemblage. Some had delightful gardens attached to them, which, in summer evenings, were illuminated and sometimes the guests were entertained with music. Boating and fishing were largely indulged in and people of means who lived on the waterside had pleasure boats. In 1752 John Watson was keeping the Ferry House on Staten Island. In December of that year “a Whale 45 feet in length ran ashore at Van Buskirk’s Point at the entrance of the Kills from our Bay, where, being discovered by People from Staten Island, a number of them went off and Killed him.” Mr. Watson states in an advertisement in the New York Gazette of December 11, 1752, that this whale may be seen at his house, and doubtless this announcement may have induced many to make the trip across the bay to see the whale and add to the profits of John Watson’s tavern.

The Reverend Mr. Burnaby, who visited the city about 1748, says: “The amusements are balls and sleighing expeditions in the winter, and in the summer going in parties upon the water and fishing, or making excursions into the country. There are several houses, pleasantly situated up the East River, near New York, where it is common to have turtle feasts. These happen once or twice a week. Thirty or forty gentlemen and ladies, meet and dine together, drink tea in the afternoon, fish and amuse themselves till evening, and then return home in Italian chaises (the fashionable carriage in this and most parts of America), a gentleman and lady in each chaise.” These trips up the East River were made to Turtle Bay. One of the houses there about this time, or a little later, was well known as the Union Flag, situated on the post road. A lot of about 22 acres of land was attached to the tavern, extending to the river, on which was a good wharf and landing. Deep drinking and gambling were prevalent among the men, although tavern-keepers were forbidden by law from permitting gambling in their houses. Cock-fighting was a popular sport. At the sign of the Fighting Cocks—an appropriate sign—in Dock Street, “very good cocks” could be had, or at the Dog’s Head in the Porridge Pot. Steel and silver spurs could be purchased in the stores. The loser of a broad cloth coat advertises in the newspaper that it was lost on a cockfighting night (supposed taken by mistake).

The Common was a place where outdoor games were played in the daytime and bonfires built at night on festive occasions. On Monday, April 29, 1751, a great match at cricket was played here for a considerable wager by eleven Londoners against eleven New Yorkers. The newspaper account states that “The Game was play’d according to the London Method; and those who got most Notches in two Hands, to be the Winners:—The New Yorkers went in first and got 81; Then the Londoners went in and got but 43; Then the New Yorkers went in again and got 86; and the Londoners finished the Game with getting only 37 more.”The game of bowls seems to have been quite popular in the early part of the eighteenth century. It was played upon a smooth, level piece of turf from forty to sixty feet square, surrounded by a ditch about six inches deep. At the further end of the ground was placed a white ball called the jack and the bowlers endeavored, with balls from six to eight inches in diameter that were not exactly round but weighted on one side so as to roll in a curve, to make their balls lie as near to the jack as possible.

Back-gammon was an evening game at the taverns and at the coffee-house. In 1734 a partisan of the governor’s party, under the nom de plume of Peter Scheme wrote in reply to an article in Zenger’s Journal: “I also frequent the Coffee House, to take a hitt at Back-Gammon, when I have an opportunity of hearing the curious sentiments of the Courtiers (since he is pleased to call the Gentlemen who frequent that place so) concerning his Journal.” It is apparent that the popularity of the game continued for many years, for Alexander Mackraby, in a letter dated June 13, 1768, says: “They have a vile practice here, which is peculiar to the city: I mean that of playing at back-gammon (a noise I detest), which is going forward at the public coffee-houses from morning till night, frequently a dozen tables at a time.”

From the very beginning of English rule in New York, horse-racing seems to have been a fashionable sport among people of means. It has been stated how Governor Nicolls established a race-course on Hempstead Plains, and since that time interest in the sport had been kept up, increasing as the population and wealth of the city increased. Races were held yearly on the Hempstead course and it is more than likely that a course was soon established on Manhattan Island. In 1733 we find an announcement in a New York newspaper that a race would be run on the 8th of October on the course at New York for a purse of upwards of four pounds by any horse, mare or gelding carrying twelve stone and paying five shillings entrance, the entrance money to go to the second horse if not distanced. There is no mention made of the location of the course, but a notice that horses that have won plate here are excepted indicates that it was probably a yearly event. Three years later we find that a subscription plate of twenty pounds’ value was to be run for on the course at New York on the 13th of October “by any horse, mare or gelding carrying ten stone (saddle and bridle included), the best of three heats, two miles each heat. Horses intended to Run for this Plate are to be entered the Day before the Race with Francis Child on Fresh Water Hill, paying a half Pistole each, or at the Post on the Day of Running, paying a Pistole.” This course on Fresh Water Hill had probably been established for some time and its location was very likely near the present Chatham Square. In 1742 there was a race-course on the Church Farm in charge of Adam Vandenberg, the lessee of the farm, who was landlord of the Drovers’ Tavern, which stood on or near the site of the present Astor House.

In seeking information from the newspapers of the day in regard to horse-racing, we find very little, if any, in the news columns; but more is to be found among the advertisements. Thus, in January, 1743-4, it is announced that a race would be run on the first day of March “between a Mare called Ragged Kate, belonging to Mr. Peter De Lancey, and a Horse called Monk, belonging to the Hon. William Montagu, Esq., for £200.” It is not stated where this race was to take place, but, in all probability, it was run either on the Fresh Water Hill course or on the Church Farm. It was for an unusually large wager, and, no doubt, attracted a great deal of attention. From about this date we hear no more of the race-course on Fresh Water Hill. It may have been disturbed by the line of palisades which was built across the island during the war with France, crossing the hill between the present Duane and Pearl Streets, at which point was a large gateway.

In September, 1747, it was announced in the newspapers that a purse of not less than ten pistoles would be run for on the Church Farm on the 11th of October, two mile heats, horses that had won plate on the island and a horse called Parrot excepted, the entrance money to be run for by any of the horses entered, except the winner and those distanced. We have every reason to suppose that the races were at this period a yearly event on the Church Farm, taking place in October. In 1750 it was announced in the New York Gazette in August and September that “on the Eleventh of October next, the New York Subscription Plate of Twenty Pounds’ Value, will be Run for by any Horse, Mare or Gelding that never won a Plate before on this Island, carrying Ten Stone Weight, Saddle and Bridle included, the best in three Heats, two miles in each Heat,” etc. A few days after the race the New York Gazette announced that on “Thursday last the New York Subscription Plate was run for at the Church Farm by five Horses and won by a horse belonging to Mr. Lewis Morris, Jun.”

A RACING TROPHY

The next year similar announcements were made of the race, the difference being that the horses eligible must have been bred in America and that they should carry eight stone weight. The date is the same as that of the previous year, October 11. We find no record of this race in the newspapers, but the illustration which is given of the trophy won is sufficient to indicate the result. Lewis Morris, Jr., appears to have carried off the prize a second time. The plate was a silver bowl ten inches in diameter and four and one-half inches high, and the winner was a horse called Old Tenor. The bowl, represented in the cut, is in the possession of Dr. Lewis Morris, U. S. N., a lineal descendant of Lewis Morris, the signer of the Declaration of Independence and the owner of Old Tenor. The name of the horse was doubtless suggested by certain bills of credit then in circulation in New York. In an advertisement of two dwelling houses on the Church Farm for sale in April, 1755, notice is given that “Old Tenor will be taken in payment.”

The great course was on Hempstead Plains. On Friday, June 1, 1750, there was a great race here for a considerable wager, which attracted such attention that on Thursday, the day before the race, upward of seventy chairs and chaises were carried over the Long Island Ferry, besides a far greater number of horses, on their way out, and it is stated that the number of horses on the plains at the race far exceeded a thousand.

In 1753 we find that the subscription plate, which had become a regular event, was run for at Greenwich, on the estate of Sir Peter Warren. Land about this time was being taken up on the Church Farm for building purposes, and this may have been the reason for the change. In 1754 there was a course on the Church Farm in the neighborhood of the present Warren Street. An account of a trial of speed and endurance was given on April 29, 1754. “Tuesday morning last, a considerable sum was depending between a number of gentlemen in this city on a horse starting from one of the gates of the city to go to Kingsbridge and back again, being fourteen miles (each way) in two hours’ time; which he performed with one rider in 1 hr. and 46 min.” The owner of this horse was Oliver De Lancey, one of the most enthusiastic sportsmen of that period. Members of the families of DeLancey and Morris were the most prominent owners of race horses. Other owners and breeders were General Monckton, Anthony Rutgers, Michael Kearney, Lord Sterling, Timothy Cornell and Roper Dawson. General Monckton, who lived for a time at the country seat called “Richmond,” owned a fine horse called Smoaker, with which John Leary, one of the best known horsemen of the day, won a silver bowl, which he refused to surrender to John Watts, the general’s friend, even under threat of legal process. Several years later he was still holding it.

In January, 1763, A. W. Waters, of Long Island, issued a challenge to all America. He says: “Since English Horses have been imported into New York, it is the Opinion of some People that they can outrun The True Britton,” and he offered to race the latter against any horse that could be produced in America for three hundred pounds or more. This challenge does not seem to have been taken up until 1765, when the most celebrated race of the period was run on the Philadelphia course for stakes of one thousand pounds. Samuel Galloway, of Maryland, with his horse, Selim, carried off the honors and the purse.

Besides the course on Hempstead Plains, well known through all the colonies as well as in England, there was another on Long Island, around Beaver Pond, near Jamaica. A subscription plate was run for on this course in 1757, which was won by American Childers, belonging to Lewis Morris, Jr. There were also courses at Paulus Hook, Perth Amboy, Elizabethtown and Morristown, New Jersey, which were all thronged by the sporting gentry of New York City. James De Lancey, with his imported horse, Lath, in October, 1769, won the one hundred pound race on the Centre course at Philadelphia. The Stamp Act Congress of 1765 brought together in New York men interested in horse-racing who had never met before, and in the few years intervening before the Revolution there sprang up a great rivalry between the northern and southern colonies.

The men of New York enjoyed rugged and cruel sports such as would not be tolerated at the present time. Among these were bear-baiting and bull-baiting. Bear-baiting became rare as the animals disappeared from the neighborhood and became scarce. Bulls were baited on Bayard’s Hill and on the Bowery. A bull was baited in 1763 at the tavern in the Bowery Lane known as the sign of the De Lancey Arms. John Cornell, near St. George’s Ferry, Long Island, gave notice in 1774 that there would be a bull baited on Tower Hill at three o’clock every Thursday afternoon during the season.

BULL BAITING, FROM AN OLD ADVERTISEMENT

The taverns in the suburbs could, in many cases, have large grounds attached to the houses and they took advantage of this to make them attractive. From the very earliest period of the city there were places near by which were resorted to for pleasure and recreation. One of the earliest of these was the Cherry Garden. It was situated on the highest part of the road which led to the north—a continuation of the road which led to the ferry in the time of the Dutch—at the present junction of Pearl and Cherry Streets, and was originally the property of Egbert Van Borsum, the ferryman of New Amsterdam, who gave the sea captains such a magnificent dinner. In 1672 the seven acres of this property were purchased by Captain Delaval for the sum of one hundred and sixty-one guilders in beavers, and, after passing through several hands, became the property of Richard Sacket, who had settled in the neighborhood, and established himself as a maltster. On the land had been planted an orchard of cherry trees, which, after attaining moderate dimensions, attracted great attention. To turn this to account, a house of entertainment was erected and the place was turned into a pleasure resort known as the Cherry Garden. There were tables and seats under the trees, and a bowling green and other means of diversion attached to the premises. It had seen its best days before the end of the seventeenth century.

THE BOWLING GREEN, FROM LYNE’S MAP

On the borders of the Common, now the City Hall Park, was the Vineyard, which is said to have been a popular place of recreation and near the junction of what are now Greenwich and Warren Streets was the Bowling Green Garden, established there soon after the opening of the eighteenth century. It was on a part of the Church Farm, quite out of town, for there were no streets then laid out above Crown, now Liberty Street, on the west side of the town and none above Frankfort on the east. In 1735 the house of the Bowling Green Garden was occupied by John Miller, who was offering garden seeds of several sorts for sale. On March 29, 1738, it took fire and in a few minutes was completely consumed, Miller, who was then living in it, saving himself with difficulty. A new house was erected and the place continued to attract visitors. There does not appear to have been any public road leading to it, but it was not a long walk or ride from the town and was finely situated on a hill near the river. In November, 1759, when it was occupied by John Marshall, the militia company of grenadiers met here to celebrate the king’s birthday, when they roasted an ox and ate and drank loyally. Marshall solicited the patronage of ladies and gentlemen and proposed to open his house for breakfasting every morning during the season. He describes it as “handsomely situated on the North River at the place known by the name of the Old Bowling Green but now called Mount Pleasant.” Some years later it became known as Vauxhall.

Bowling must have had some attraction for the people of New York, for in March, 1732-3, the corporation resolved to “lease a piece of land lying at the lower end of Broadway fronting the Fort to some of the inhabitants of the said Broadway in Order to be Inclosed to make a Bowling Green thereof, with Walks therein, for the Beauty & Ornament of the Said Street, as well as for the Recreation and Delight of the Inhabitants of this City.” In October, 1734, it was accordingly leased to Frederick Phillipse, John Chambers and John Roosevelt for ten years, for a bowling-green only, at the yearly rental of one pepper-corn. In 1742 the lease was renewed for eleven years; to commence from the expiration of the first lease, at a rental of twenty shillings per annum. In January, 1745, proposals were requested for laying it with turf and rendering it fit for bowling, which shows that it was then being used for that purpose. It was known as the New or Royal Bowlling Green and the one on the Church Farm as the Old Bowling Green.

Some time about 1754, an attempt was made in New York to make glass bottles and other glass ware. Thomas Leppers, who had been a tavern-keeper, was storekeeper for the Glass House Company, and advertised all sorts of bottles and a variety of glassware “too tedious to mention, at reasonable rates.” He stated that gentlemen who wished bottles of any size with their names on them, “could be supplied with all expedition.” A few years later, 1758, notice was given by Matthias Ernest that the newly-erected Glass House at New Foundland, within four miles of the city, was at work and ready to supply bottles, flasks and any sort of glassware. Newfoundland was the name of a farm of about thirty-three acres, four miles from the city on the North River, extending from the present Thirty-fifth Street northward, on which this glass house had been erected. It is not unlikely that the Glass House was visited by many persons, either on business or from curiosity, and that they were there entertained by the owner or manager of the property; at any rate, it seems to have acquired a reputation for good dinners. Paymaster General Mortier notes in his diary a dinner at the Glass House on February 18, 1758, which cost him 3s. 6d. The manufacture of glass was not successful, but the place became a well-known suburban resort, where good dinners were served to visitors from the city. In 1764 the Glass House was kept by Edward Agar, who, in addition to serving dinners, could furnish apartments to ladies or gentlemen who wished to reside in the country for the benefit of their health. In 1768 it was kept by John Taylor, and it was evidently then a popular resort, for a stage wagon was advertised to run out to it every day, leaving Mr. Vandenberg’s, where the Astor House now stands, at three o’clock in the afternoon.

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