Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued—Winding Ridge to the Big Crossings—The State Line—How it is Noted—The Old Stone Tavern on Winding Ridge, John Welsh, Major Paul, The Wables, Edward C. Jones, The Augustines, Daniel Blucher, Petersburg, Gen. Ross, William Roddy, Gabriel Abrams, The Risler Family, Col. Samuel Elder, Robert Hunter, John McMullin, Alfred Newlon, Lott Watson, John Mitchell, John Bradfield, The Temple of Juno, The Big Crossings, Endsley’s Old Tavern, John Campbell, William Imhoff—An Old Time Fourth of July Celebration.
From Baltimore to the point last mentioned in the preceding chapter, all the old taverns on the road are in the State of Maryland. The road crosses the dividing line between the States of Maryland and Pennsylvania, near the eastern foot of Winding Ridge. The crossing point is marked by a metal slab shaped like the ordinary mile post, and bears this inscription on one side: “State Line, Md. 96-3/4 to Wheeling, to Petersburg, 2-3/4.” On the other side: “State Line, Penna. 34-1/4 to Cumberland, to Frostburg, 23-1/4.”
Near the top of Winding Ridge, and in Somerset county, Pa., there is an old stone tavern which was built as early as the year 1819, and by John Welsh, who occupied it and conducted it down to the year 1821, when it passed to the management of Samuel Dennison, who was succeeded in turn by M. J. Clark, Isaac Ochletree, Peter Yeast, Maj. William Paul, Michael Cresap, Robert Boice and William Lenhart. John Welsh, who built this house and first occupied it, was the father-in-law of Aden Clary, well known in the early history of the road. Major Paul kept this house in 1836, and for some time thereafter. He subsequently kept a tavern in Washington, Pa., on Maiden street, opposite the female seminary, and later in West Brownsville, where he died more than forty years ago. He was familiarly known from one end of the road to the other. Voluble in speech, rotund in form, and ruddy in complexion, Major Paul was a fine type of the jolly landlord of the old road. He had a daughter, the wife of Aaron Wyatt, an old tavern keeper of the road, who always enjoyed the reputation of keeping a good house, owing in all probability to the early and practical training of his wife. Mrs. Patrick at one time owned and occupied the old stone house on top of Winding Ridge. She was the mother of W. W. Patrick, now, and for many years, the intelligent head of the old reputable and successful banking house of R. Patrick & Co., of Pittsburg. About the year 1850 the stables, appurtenant to the old stone tavern, above mentioned, and when it was kept by William Lenhart, were destroyed by fire, supposed to have been the incendiary work of a disreputable woman. The loss was serious, and included two fine horses, the property of William Hall, the typical old regular wagoner, hereinbefore mentioned. Winding Ridge derives its name from the tortuous course of the old Braddock road up the mountain, at that point.
JOHN RISLER.
At the foot of Winding Ridge, on the north side of the road, an old wagon and drove stand was kept as early as the year 1820, by John Wable. This old tavern keeper was probably well advanced in years when he first put out his sign, and from this old house he was summoned to his last account. He had two sons, John and Jacob, who succeeded him in the management of the old tavern, as tenants in common. The sons applied themselves assiduously to the business of entertaining the public, and after a brief experience, concluded that their father’s old house was too small to meet the demands of the increasing trade and travel of the road, and accordingly tore it down and erected a new and larger one in its place. The new house attracted a paying business, and remains a well known landmark of the road. In course of time the Wables left this house, and their successor was Edward C. Jones, the grandfather, on the maternal line, of Caleb and Noble McCormick, of Uniontown. This was more than fifty years ago. Mr. Jones moved from this old house to Searights, where he resided for a time, and subsequently located in New Salem, where he died. The old Wable house next passed to the hands of Jonas Augustine, who became its owner and conducted it as a tavern for many years, doing a good business. While in charge of this old tavern he was elected a member of the legislature of Pennsylvania for Somerset county, and represented his constituents with recognized fidelity. He died soon after his legislative career ended, and the old tavern was purchased by his brother, Daniel Augustine, who kept it for many years, and until tavern keeping on the road ceased to be profitable. Previous to the occupancy of Daniel Augustine, this house was kept for brief periods between 1840 and 1845, first by Michael Cresap, and after him by Joseph Whetstone. Cresap went from this house to the stone house on Winding Ridge. The widow of Jonas Augustine, well advanced in years, occupies this old house at the present time, as a private residence, and Daniel Augustine is a resident of Petersburg, and regarded as the richest man in that town.
One mile west of Augustine’s, Daniel Blucher kept a tavern as early as 1828. He was a German, and his custom consisted mainly of the patronage of old wagoners. This house dropped from the roll of taverns long before the great travel on the road ceased.
The ancient and picturesque village of Petersburg is the next point reached on the westward march. Petersburg is noted for its healthful location and the beauty of the surrounding scenery. It has always been a popular resort for summer tourists seeking exemption from the stifling heat of crowded cities. Here lives [G]Gen. Moses A. Ross, a retired merchant, who did business in the village for fifty years, and gained the confidence and enjoys the esteem of all his neighbors. A number of years ago his fellow citizens elected him to the legislature, and he served them intelligently, faithfully and honestly. He is a christian gentleman, and his long and honest business career on the road entitles him to be classed as a pike boy, well worthy of honorable mention. General Ross was born in Masontown, Fayette Co., Pa., in the year 1810. Here also lived for many years, and died, William Roddy, who was at one time a superintendent of the road, and a gentleman of unquestioned integrity. The first tavern ever kept in Petersburg was by Gabriel Abrams, father of the late Judge Abrams, of Brownsville. It was a frame house, on the south side of the road, and built by Gabriel Abrams, aforesaid. This house did a large business throughout the entire career of the road, as a national highway. Subsequent to the time of Abrams it was conducted successively and successfully by John Skinner, Daniel Clary (in 1830), William Reynolds, Thomas Brownfield, James Marlow, Michael Cresap, Peter Turney, Joseph Hendrickson and Henry Magee. A frame house on the north side, erected by Henry Wentling, was conducted by him as a tavern from 1820 to 1829, when he leased it to John Risler, a celebrated old tavern keeper, who kept at various points on the road in the days of its glory. Mr. Risler was the father-in-law of the venerable Harrison Wiggins, Brown Hadden, and the late Stephen W. Snyder, and it is the tradition of the road that wherever a kitchen and a dining room were controlled by a female member of the Risler family, there a well cooked and relishable meal was sure to be obtained. Mr. Risler was succeeded in the old Wentling house by James Connelly, and he, in 1835, by the stalwart and popular old wagoner, Matthias Fry. Fry remained in charge until the spring of 1838, when he turned it over to John Bell, who was succeeded by his son-in-law, Col. Samuel Elder, who remained in charge until some time late in the forties, when he moved to Uniontown and took the management of the National house in that place. In the year 1832 Robert Hunter opened a tavern in a brick house, on the south side of the road and street, in Petersburg, and conducted it for many years with marked success. Mrs. Hunter, the old and amiable hostess of this house, is remembered as well for her good qualities as a housekeeper as for her immense size. She weighed two hundred and fifty pounds. This old house was subsequently kept by John A. Walker, John McMullin, Alfred Newlon and Lott Watson, in the order given, and was always well kept. The stage coaches of one of the early lines stopped at this house, and it has been extensively patronized by summer visitors and pleasure seekers. It was one of the very best eating houses on the road, and is continued as a tavern to this day by Mr. Mitchell, who holds a license and keeps a good house. John E. Reeside married a step-daughter of John McMullin.
At a very early period in the road’s history, John Mitchell kept a tavern one mile west of Petersburg, on the north side. Besides doing a general business, this old house was a station for the first line of stages on the road. It was destroyed by fire on the 31st day of October, 1828, and supplied by a new log structure, which was kept as a tavern for many years by John Mitchell, jr., who erected near the old site the present large and substantial brick building in which he is now living, one of the oldest men on the road. On the opposite side of the road from this house immense stabling was erected, in after years supplemented by cattle and hay scales, all of which are still standing, tending slightly towards dilapidation and decay, but in a much better state of preservation than most of the old stables of the road. There is a large and fertile farm connected with this old tavern stand, well managed, under the direction of its venerable owner, [H]John Mitchell.
A short distance west from Mitchell’s, a large brick house on the north side of the road, was kept as a tavern by John Bradfield in 1840, and later. The locality was known as Newbury. John Bradfield was the general agent of the first heavy freight line put on the road, moved by six horse teams, stationed at intervals of fifteen miles. He was an old wagoner, and a good business man, and before going to Newbury kept a tavern in Wheeling and in Washington, Pennsylvania. After Bradfield’s retirement the Newbury house was continued as a tavern by Moses Jennings.
Less than a mile west of Newbury, on the north side of the road, an old building once used as a tavern, attracts special attention by reason of the singular style of its architecture. It is a wooden structure, commonly called a frame, with an unusually high portico in front, supported by four round and tall wooden columns, tapering upward and downward from the centers. It reminds one of the old pictures of the temple of Juno, and possibly the designer had that ancient temple in view when he planned this old tavern. He is said to have been a native of the vicinity, not likely versed in the classic orders of architecture, but the style he adopted in this instance might reasonably be regarded as the Monogynous. Two immense stables appurtenant to this old tavern, one log, the other frame, both still standing, weather beaten, empty, and useless, bear silent, but impressive testimony to the thrift of other days, and impart a tinge of melancholy to the memories of the old pike. Daniel Show was the original owner of the quaint old building above described, and its first occupant. He sold it to Samuel Easter, who conducted it for a brief period, and was succeeded by Peter Lenhart, mentioned hereinafter as “Shellbark.” Samuel Thompson succeeded Lenhart, and he in 1846 was succeeded by Mrs. Metzgar, who subsequently became the wife of John Olwine.
And now the hills that skirt the Youghiogheny river rise to view, and Somerfield is reached, an ancient little town, which the old metal mile posts on the road persist in calling Smithfield. That this town was once called Smithfield there can be no doubt, and that it now is Somerfield is equally clear. It was originally called Smithfield, because its founder’s name was Smith, but the postoffice department changed it to Somerfield on account of the great multitude of Smiths and Smithfields in all portions of the universe. Somerfield has been the scene of many a lively incident of the old road. Here light feet, impelled by lighter hearts, tripped to the notes of merry music, and the ringing laugh and sprightly jokes of the old stage driver and wagoner, enlivened the now dull halls of the old taverns. The most noted old tavern keeper of Somerfield was Capt. Thomas Endsley. Somerfield was always a stage station, the second relay east of Uniontown. The Endsley House was the headquarters of Stockton’s line. It is a stone building, and stands near the bank of the river at the western end of the town, and was erected in the year 1818 by Kinkead, Beck & Evans, the old bridge builders, and occupied and conducted as a tavern by James Kinkead, the senior member of the firm, from the date of its completion to the year 1822. John Campbell was its next occupant, who kept it for a term of two years, and until 1824. Capt. Endsley then took charge of it, and conducted it down to the year 1829. John Shaffer kept it from 1829 to 1831, when Capt. Endsley again took charge and continued down to 1834, when Redding Bunting was installed, and conducted it down to the year 1837. He was succeeded by John Richards, who remained in charge until 1840. Squire Hagan conducted it from 1840 to 1842, and Aaron Wyatt from 1842 to 1847, when Capt. Endsley, the third time, re-entered, and remained in charge until 1852, when he gave place to his son William, the present incumbent. This old house is as solid as when first constructed. Its foundation walls are not the least impaired, and its mortar pointings are as hard as the stones, while the wood work, and notably the doors, casings and mantel pieces, are in a perfect state of preservation, attesting the skill of the mechanics at the early period in which the house was built. Near the center of the town, on the south side of the street, an old log tavern was kept by John Campbell, as early as the year 1824, and immediately after his retirement from the Endsley House. He was succeeded in turn at this house by L. C. Dunn, Samuel Frazee, Moses Jennings, and John Bradfield. The June Bug line of stages stopped at this house, and for a while the Good Intent line. It went out of business in 1853, was remodeled and improved, and is now the private residence of James Watson. Prior to 1837 and down to 1849 a tavern was kept on the north side of the street in Somerfield, by Daniel Blucher, J. Tantlinger, Capt. Morrow, Aaron Wyatt, Andrew Craig, Samuel Thompson and P. R. Sides, in the order given. This house ceased to do business in 1849, and was pulled down in 1883, and never rebuilt. In 1823 James Kinkead, the old bridge builder, kept a tavern in a brick house on the south side of the street in Somerfield. This house was afterward and successively kept by William Imhoff, James Watson, Lot Watson, John Irvin and Ephraim Vansickle. Vansickle was a blind man and engaged in tavern keeping when the glory of the road was fading away. He had many of the elements of a successful tavern keeper, and furnished satisfactory entertainment to the few travelers and strangers who sought shelter and refreshment under his kindly roof; but he was too late. Tavern keeping on the National Road was but a legend when he embarked in the business, and he was constrained to listen day after day, and night after night to the glowing recitals of the good times in bygone years, and reconcile himself as best he could to the existing situation. At Somerfield the road crosses the Youghiogheny river over a large, handsome and substantial stone bridge, three hundred and seventy-five feet in length, with three symmetrical arches, and appropriately named by old pike boys the Big Crossings. A large dressed stone in the wall of this bridge above the surface of the road, and near the eastern end, bears the inscription; “Kinkead, Beck & Evans, builders, July 4th, 1818.” The day of the month, the anniversary of Independence, is given because on that day the bridge was finished, and the occasion was celebrated with great eclat. The inhabitants of the mountains for miles around, male and female, old and young, with old fashioned banners and old fashioned music, turned out in great numbers, inspired by that genuine patriotism which characterized the early period of our country’s independence, while yet many of the soldiers of the revolution were living, and were addressed in eloquent terms by the Hon. Andrew Stewart, Col. Samuel Evans, Hon. John Dawson and John M. Austin, of Uniontown.
