Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued—Cumberland to Little Crossings—The City of Cumberland—Everstine’s—The Six Mile House and Bridge—Clary’s—Tragedy in Frostburg—Thomas Beall—Sand Springs—Big Savage—Little Savage—Thomas Johnson—The Shades of Death—John Recknor—Piney Grove—Mortimer Cade—Tomlinson’s—Widow Wooding.

The city of Cumberland is the initial point, as before stated, of that portion of the National Road which was constructed by authority of Congress, and paid for with funds drawn from the public treasury of the United States. In 1835 James Black kept the leading tavern in Cumberland. It was a stage house. In 1836 John and Emory Edwards, of Boonsboro, leased the Black House, and conducted it as a tavern for many years thereafter. John Snider, the old pike boy of pleasant memory, hauled a portion of the household goods of the Edwards’ from their old home in Boonsboro to their new location at Cumberland. At the date last mentioned there were two wagon stands in Cumberland. One of them was kept by Thomas Plumer. Plumer had teams on the road. The other was kept by George Mattingly. Frederic Shipley kept a tavern in Cumberland previous to the year 1840. It was located on Baltimore street, near the site of the station first established by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. This house was subsequently conducted by George W. Gump, and after him, in 1857, by David Mahaney. One Kaig, of Bedford county, Pennsylvania, succeeded Mahaney in the control of this house. It was called “The American,” and entertained wagoners and the traveling public at large. In 1844 and later, the widow Adams kept a wagon stand in Cumberland, on the site of the present rolling mill. George Elliott was manager for Mrs. Adams. The house was a large brick structure, and known in its day as the “Mountain City House.” Lewis Smith kept “The Blue Springs House” on Mechanics street, and was largely patronized by old wagoners. Frederic Shipley also kept a tavern on Mechanics street, after he left the American. John Kelso, the old wagoner, kept a tavern for a short time on Mechanics street, and was well patronized; and Otho Barcus, another old wagoner, kept the “Pennsylvania House” on Mechanics street in 1843, and for a period of three years thereafter. The road when first laid out, as seen in a previous chapter, passed over Wills Mountain. In 1834 this location was changed for a better grade, up the valleys of Wills creek and Braddock’s run. To make this change it was necessary to first obtain the consent of the State of Maryland, which was granted by an act of her Legislature in 1832. The old Plumer tavern stood at the eastern end of the old location, and the old Mattingly tavern at the same end of the new location. George Evans kept a tavern, also, near the eastern end of the original location.

Five miles west of Cumberland, on the new location, a wagon stand was kept by Joseph Everstine. This was a frame house, and stood on the north side of the road. It was well conducted, but owing to its proximity to Cumberland, did not do as large a business as other taverns of the road, more advantageously located.

Six miles west from Cumberland there was an old tavern known as the “Six Mile House.” It belonged to the Bruces, an old and wealthy family of Alleghany county, Maryland, and many years ago was destroyed by fire. A new building was erected on the old site, and remains to this day in the occupancy of a nephew of the old tavern keeper, Aden Clary. This house is near the junction of the old and new locations above referred to, and near the stone bridge over Braddock’s run. The sixth mile post from Cumberland stands on the north wall of this bridge, firm and unshaken. The bridge is well preserved, and a polished stone thereof bears this inscription: “1835—Built by Thomas Fealy, Lieut. Jno. Pickell, U. S. Engineer, H. M. Petitt, Ass’t Supt’d.”

Eight miles west from Cumberland Aden Clary kept. His house was a large and commodious brick building on the south side of the road, and is still standing. There was not a more popular house on the road than Aden Clary’s.

Frostburg is next reached. This was always a prominent point on the road. It did not derive its name, as many suppose, from the crisp atmosphere in which it was located, but from the original owner of the land on which it stands, whose name was Frost. Frostburg was the first stage station west of Cumberland. The leading taverns of Frostburg in the palmy days of the road were the “Franklin House” and the “Highland Hall House.” The Franklin House was kept for many years by Thomas Beall, the father of the Bealls of Uniontown. It was headquarters of the Good Intent stage line. The Highland Hall House was conducted at different times by George W. Claybaugh, George Evans, Samuel Cessna and Thomas Porter. It was the headquarters of the Stockton line of coaches. During Cessna’s time at this house he was the principal actor in a tragedy which produced considerable commotion in the vicinity. A negro servant employed by Cessna addressed some insulting remark to his wife, and immediately upon being informed thereof, Cessna proceeded to dispatch the negro without ceremony. He was tried in Cumberland for murder and acquitted, public sentiment very generally acquiescing in the verdict of the jury. About the year 1850 the Highland Hall House was purchased by the authorities of the Catholic church, remodeled, improved and converted to ecclesiastical uses.

About one mile west of Frostburg, and at the foot of Big Savage mountain, is Sand Springs, so called from the gurgling water in the sand at that point. In 1836 the widow Ward kept a wagon stand tavern at Sand Springs. Her house was a favorite resort for old wagoners. On the night of October 3, 1836, snow fell to the depth of a foot at Sand Springs, breaking down the timber all through the surrounding mountains. Mrs. Ward’s wagon yard was crowded with teams and wagons that night, and the snow was so deep the next day that the wagoners deemed it inexpedient to turn out, and remained at Mrs. Ward’s until the following morning. John Snider was among the wagoners at Mrs. Ward’s on the occasion mentioned, and is authority for the occurrence of the October snow storm. The tavern at Sand Springs was subsequently kept by John Welsh, an old stage driver, Hiram Sutton and Jacob Conrod, in the order named. Hiram Sutton was a son-in-law of Jared Clary. He kept the Sand Springs tavern down to the year 1852, when he moved to Parkersburg, West Virginia, and may be living there yet. Philip Spiker, the old blacksmith at Sand Springs, it is said could shoe more horses in a given time than any other blacksmith on the road. He had a rival, however, in A. Brice Devan, now of Dunbar, who, in the palmy days of the road, carried on a shop in Hopwood, and shod horses for old wagoners all night long on many occasions. Devan’s backers will not concede that Spiker was a speedier shoer than he.

A short distance west of Sand Springs, on the side of Big Savage mountain, an old wagon stand was kept by one Cheney, afterward by Jacob Conrod. It is a stone house, on the south side of the road. In Cheney’s time at this house, Henry Clay Bush, who was an old wagoner, says that metallic mugs were used for drinking purposes, instead of glasses. He further states that the mugs were clean, and probably used through deference to the pure whisky of that day. Big Savage mountain is two thousand five hundred and eighty feet above the Atlantic.

Two miles west from Cheney’s, and at the foot of Little Savage mountain, Thomas Beall kept a tavern as early as 1830. William E. Beall, superintendent of the Uniontown rolling mill, was born at this old tavern. Thomas Beall removed from this place to Missouri, but after a short absence, returned to Western Maryland, and took charge of the Franklin House in Frostburg. Thomas Johnson succeeded Thomas Beall in the management of this house. It was a noted place, and Johnson was a noted character. He was a good fiddler and a good dancer. He owned a negro named Dennis, who was also a good dancer, and night after night in the cheerful bar room of the old tavern, Dennis performed the “double shuffle,” responsive to lively music furnished by his old master. Johnson was small in stature, weighing but little over a hundred pounds. Although he participated freely in the fun of the old road, he was not unmindful or neglectful of his business. He owned the old tavern-stand mentioned and the lands adjacent, and dying, left a comfortable inheritance to his descendants. Little Savage mountain has an elevation of two thousand four hundred and eighty feet above the Atlantic, being one hundred feet lower than Big Savage.

Three miles further westward, and at the eastern approach to the Shades of Death, John Recknor kept an old wagon stand, well known, and in its day well patronized. Recknor kept this house as early as 1830, and ended his days in it. It was a log and frame structure on the north side of the road, with a commodious wagon yard attached. The thick branches of the pine trees growing on Shade Hill, hung over this old house, imparting to it a romantic, as well as an attractive perspective. The fame of Mrs. Recknor as a purveyor of hot biscuits was co-extensive with the line of the road. Now,

Piney Grove comes next, two miles from Recknor’s, so called from the numerous pine trees growing in the locality in the olden time. At an early day Joshua Johnson, a wealthy man of Frederic City, owned fifteen thousand acres of land, embracing Piney Grove and the Shades of Death, which he held for many years for speculative purposes. Portions of this large area, it is said, continue in the possession of Johnson’s descendants to this day. The pine trees were cut down many years ago, sawed up and shipped to market. William Frost, of Frostburg, erected the first extensive saw mill in the vicinity. At Piney Grove there was an old tavern, kept at different times by Truman Fairall, Mortimer Cade, Lemuel Cross, John Wrench and David Mahaney. All the stage lines of the road stopped at this old tavern, and wagoners in goodly numbers also congregated there. It was a large frame building on the north side of the road, and on the opposite side large stables and sheds were erected for sheltering horses and vehicles.

West of Piney Grove about one-fourth of a mile, an old wagon stand was kept by a man whose name was Wagoner, and subsequently by Isaac Bell, and later by Mortimer Cade. Cade kept this house in 1840, and died in it. His widow continued to keep it as a tavern for a number of years, and until she became the wife of William Fear, who kept a tavern on Keyser’s Ridge. A daughter of Mrs. Cade is living in Uniontown at this time.

Two miles west of Piney Grove the celebrated old Tomlinson tavern at Little Meadows is reached. This is an old stand; as old as the National Road. Here the lines of the National and the old Braddock roads coincide. Jesse Tomlinson owned the land at this point, and kept a tavern on the old Braddock road, before the National Road was made. Upon the opening of the latter he abandoned his old house and erected a new one on the new road, which he conducted as a tavern for many years. After his death the property passed to the hands of Jacob Sides. W. M. F. Magraw, as before stated, married a daughter of Jacob Sides. This place is referred to as the Little Meadows in the official record of Braddock’s unfortunate march through the mountains in 1755. The region at and about Mt. Washington, further westward on the line of the road, where the conflict between Washington and the French and Indians occurred, in 1754, is designated by Washington, in his official report of that engagement, as the Great Meadows. Tomlinson’s tavern is a large stone house, on the north side of the road. After Tomlinson, it was kept by Thomas Endsley, who was succeeded by Thomas Thistle, Thomas Thistle by James Stoddard, and he, in turn, by Jesse Huddleson, Truman Fairall, Lemuel Cross and David Mahaney, all before the railroad was continued west of Cumberland. It was kept by George Layman after the railroad absorbed the trade. Layman was afterward sheriff of Alleghany county, Maryland. In the year 1862, while the property was under the control of Mr. Magraw, the old Tomlinson tavern was remodeled and much improved. The contract for the improvements was undertaken by George W. Wyning, a well known carpenter of Uniontown, who superintended the work in person, and during its progress he and Magraw together, spent many a pleasant hour amid the exhilarating atmosphere of the mountains, in the society of the old pike boys. James K. Polk dined at the Tomlinson house in the spring of 1845, on his way to Washington to be inaugurated President. Huddleson was keeping the house at that time. The occasion brought together a large concourse of mountain people, who were addressed by the President-elect.

One mile west from Tomlinson’s the widow Wooding kept a tavern as early as 1842, and for some time thereafter. Her house was a frame building, on the north side of the road, and was largely patronized by old wagoners. Mrs. Wooding growing old, and wearied by the onerous duties of tavern keeping, gave up the business, and turned her house over to her son-in-law. Peter Yeast, who conducted it for a season, and in turn surrendered it to John Wright.

One mile west of Mrs. Wooding’s old stand the traveler reaches the Little Crossings, a name given to the locality from the circumstance that here the road crosses the Castleman river; and the prefix “little” is used because the Castleman is a smaller stream than the Youghiogheny, which is crossed a few miles further westward, and called the Big Crossings. There was no tavern at the Little Crossings previous to the year 1836. Subsequent to that date a tavern was established there by Alexander Carlisle, who entertained the traveling public in a satisfactory manner. His house was a large frame structure, on the south side of the road, subsequently kept by John and Samuel McCurdy, and later, at different times, by David Johnson, William Dawson, Elisha Brown, Jacob Conrod and David Mahaney. Although nearly twenty years elapsed from the building of the road before any old landlord at Little Crossings beckoned the weary traveler to rest and refreshment, nevertheless, thereafter, and until business ceased on the line, that locality presented many and rare attractions, as all old pike boys are ready to verify.