  Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued—Uniontown to Searights—Anecdote of John Slack—Slack at Night and Tight in the Morning—Old Roads—Parting Tribute to the Old Taverns of the Mountains—Henry Clay Extols the Virtue of Buckwheat Cakes—Boss Rush and his Poker—Moxleys—The Old Hunter House—Searights—The Grays and the Gray Meeting—Jackson Men and Adams Men Meet and Count Noses—Old Political Leaders—Barnacles of the Road. The tavern keepers on the “old road,” as it is called, were as earnestly opposed to the building of the National Road, as those on the latter were to the building of the railroad, and for like reasons. The following anecdote serves as an illustration: John Slack kept a tavern for many years at the summit of Laurel Hill on the old road, in a house near the Washington Springs. Before the National Road was opened said Slack, in a complaining manner, “Wagons coming up Laurel Hill would stick in the mud a mile or so below my house, when the drivers would unhitch, leave their wagons in the mud, and bring their teams to my house and stay with me all night. In the morning they would return to their stranded wagons, dig and haul them out, and get back to my house and stay with me another night. Thus counting the wagons going east and west, I got four night’s bills from the same set of wagoners.” “Now,” concluded Slack (since the completion of the National Road), with indignation, “the wagoners whiff by without stopping.” Old wagoners were accustomed to say of Slack that he was “Slack at night and tight in the morning,” meaning that he was clever and cheerful when they “put up” with him in the evening, and close and exacting in the morning when bills were payable. The old road referred to was the Braddock road, which from the summit of Laurel Hill, turned northwardly, as before stated, to Gists (Mt. Braddock), Stewart’s Crossing (Connellsville), Braddock’s Field and Fort Pitt (Pittsburg). THE SEARIGHT HOUSE. An old road between Uniontown and Brownsville was laid out in 1774 by viewers appointed by the court of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, before Fayette county was established, upon a petition signed mainly by inhabitants of Brownsville and vicinity, who complained that “they had to carry their corn twenty miles to the mill of Henry Beeson at Uniontown.” The distance of twenty miles complained of was by way of the old road known as “Burd’s,” from John Slack, the old tavern keeper before mentioned, was the father of Mrs. McClean, wife of Ephraim McClean, who for many years kept the Cottage tavern on the summit of Laurel Hill, and no doubt the fame of this house under the management of the McCleans is attributable in great measure to the early training of Mrs. McClean in her father’s old tavern, where she was reared. Heretofore in these pages the reader has been introduced to old taverns and old tavern keepers on the mountain division of the road, a long division covering two hundred miles, including the intervening glades and valleys. Surprise is often expressed that there were so many good taverns in the mountains, remote from fertile fields and needed markets. That they were equal to the best on the road is conceded; and that the old taverns of the National Road have never been surpassed for bounteous entertainment and good cheer, is likewise conceded; in fact, has never been disputed. It may seem a trifling thing to be written down in serious history, that the old taverns of the mountains excelled all others in the matter of serving buckwheat cakes; but it is germane and true. To relieve this statement from the imputation of being a trifling one, it may be added that there are men and women still living on the line of the National Road who often heard the great statesman, orator and patriot, Henry Clay, praising the good qualities of the buckwheat cakes furnished by the old mountain taverns with as much fervor and more enthusiasm than he ever exhibited in commending his favorite measure, the Protective Tariff. And, as a matter of fact, it might be stated in this connection, that the making of buckwheat cakes is essentially a home industry, not, however, of the infantile order, and while it may not need protection, is certainly deserving of encouragement. Another memorable feature of the mountain taverns was the immense fires kept constantly burning in the old bar rooms during the old-time winters. In many instances the grates were seven feet in length, with corresponding width and depth, and would contain an ordinary wagon load of coal; and when the fires were stirred up in these immense grates, and set to roaring, the jolly old wagoners occupying the bar rooms paid little heed to the eagerness of the howling mountain weather. The old landlord of the mountains took special pride in keeping up his bar room fire. He kept a poker from six to Three miles west of Uniontown is an old tavern stand known in late years as the Moxley House. It is a long log and frame building, situate on the south side of the road, with a porch extending along its entire frontage. This house was first kept as a tavern by Bazil Wiggins, an uncle of Harrison Wiggins, the old fox hunter before mentioned, next by John Gray, grandfather of the old and popular conductor from Uniontown to Pittsburg on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, now and for many years deceased. Its next occupant, and from 1836 to 1838, was William Cox, a brother-in-law of E. W. Clement, the famous swearer. In 1838 the property was purchased by Thomas Moxley, who went into possession and continued it as a tavern stand down to the year 1863, when Henry Clay Rush bought it and occupied it until the year 1865, when he sold it to Edmund Leonard, its present occupant. When Moxley took charge of this old tavern he gave it the name of “The Half-way House,” for the reason that its location is about midway between Cumberland and Wheeling. It was always a well conducted tavern, and did a large business, mainly in the line of wagon custom. Less than a mile west of the old Moxley House, on the south side, and back a few yards from the road, is a fine brick building, which, during a portion of the prosperous era of the road, was a well known and popular tavern stand. The house was built by Robert Hunter, who occupied it for several years, but did not seem inclined to court patronage, and, as a consequence, did not do much business. He leased the house to William Darlington, and moved to Ohio. Darlington, as before stated, had been an old wagoner, was a man of amiable temper, and did a large business at this house. He remained in it until the year 1848, when he moved to the mountain and took charge of the Stone House, then known as the Fayette Springs House, now Dean’s. There he remained until he became the occupant of the Mansion House on the estate of the late Col. Samuel Evans, near Uniontown, where he died. When Darlington vacated the old Hunter House it was turned over to Peter Colley, whose father, Abel Colley, had previously bought it from Hunter. Peter Colley kept the house a number of years, and died in possession. He was a man of quiet deportment, attentive to strangers and travelers, and JOSEPH GRAY. Next, two miles further west, is Searights. Here is the old half-way house between Uniontown and Brownsville, a large stone building on the north side of the road, at the crossing of the great drovers’ road of other days leading from the Flats of Grave Creek, Virginia, to Bedford, Pennsylvania. The large stables connected with this house, on the opposite side of the road, are still standing, and in a good state of preservation. In the olden time, in addition to the ordinary travel on the road, sleighing and other parties from Uniontown and Brownsville were accustomed to go to this old tavern for a night’s dancing, and the attending festivities. This is also the battleground of the memorable “Gray Meeting” in 1828, where the opposing hosts between Jackson and Adams went into an open field and measured strength by “counting off,” the Jacksonians outnumbering their adversaries by a decided preponderance, greatly to the mortification of the weaker column. This meeting was called the “Gray meeting,” because the tavern there was then kept by John Gray, formerly of the Moxley House, before mentioned. The leaders on the occasion of this trial of strength were as follows: On the Jackson side, Gen. Henry W. Beeson, Col. Ben Brownfield, John Fuller, David Gilmore, Larkin S. Dearth. Alexander Johnson, Provance McCormick, William F. Coplan, Henry J. Rigdon, William Hatfield and William Searight. On the Adams side: Andrew Stewart, John Dawson, John M. Austin, Israel Miller, E. P. Oliphant, Chads Chalfant, Stokely Conwell, Levi Springer, Dennis Springer, and William Colvin. Prior to 1840 many of the Democratic county meetings and conventions were held at Searights. Before the era of railroads it was a central point for Uniontown, Connellsville and Brownsville. A large water-trough was always maintained at this old tavern, where teams attached to all kinds of wagons, coaches and other vehicles, as well as horses and mules led in droves, were halted for refreshment. At times relays of stage horses for extra occasions were stationed here, and it was always a relay for the line teams moving merchandise. An old sign-board was displayed at the front of the house for many years, bearing in large gilt letters the legend Searights. The old tavern at Searights was built by Josiah Frost, about the time the National Road was constructed, and in the year 1821 William Searight acquired it by purchase from Frost. Joseph T. Noble as lessee of William Searight kept the tavern first after it was vacated by Frost. It was kept for a brief period at intervals by William Searight, but owing to his absence from home, being a contractor on public works, he did not give the management his personal attention, but placed it in the hands of James Allison, a well remembered and highly esteemed citizen, subsequently and for many years postmaster at Searights. John Gray, as has been stated, kept this house in 1828. The National Road had its contingent of quaint characters, eccentric men, philosophers in one sense, and loafers in another. They were indigenous to the road, could not live away from it, and enjoyed the precarious subsistence they obtained on it. The load-stone that attracted them and attached them to the road, probably above all other influences, was the pure whisky, before mentioned. It was plentiful and cheap, and could be obtained almost for the mere asking. It did not contain the elements of modern whisky, which excites men to revolution, insurrection, violence and insanity. Of the characters alluded to, whose haunts were at the old taverns along the road between Searights and Brownsville, the reader familiar with that portion of the line will readily recall Marion Smith, (Logan) George Ducket, Jonathan Crawford, John W. Dougherty, Gideon Lehman and Billy Bluebaker. Logan’s forte was imitating the crowing of a rooster. Ducket had no pronounced trait, but under a patriotic impulse volunteered as a soldier in the Mexican war, and marched with Major Gardner, Daniel Hazard and the other heroes to the halls of the Montezumas. Crawford was a tailor, and worked at his trade as little as possible, but quietly enjoyed his potations. He had nothing to say. Dougherty was a walking arsenal, savage in appearance and gesticulation. He carried knives, pistols and a general assortment of deadly weapons, but was never known to use them on an adversary. WILLIAM SHAW. |
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