Colonial Tavern Center of Village Activities

Inns Were Links in Transportation and Communications Networks of Era

Jul 25, 2009 Rosemary E. Bachelor

The Colonial tavern, also called an inn or ordinary, linked most phases of village life and provided connections with the rest of the world.

Second only in importance to the church, usually referred to as the meeting house, early inns often doubled as a meeting space for local officials and others until a town hall could be built.

The Link of Tavern and Meeting House

There was a unique link between meeting house and tavern. In 1651, John Vyall of Boston was granted “Libertie to keep a house of Common entertainment…provided he keepe it neere the new meeting house.” A meeting house in Little Compton, RI, that was abandoned for church purposes became an inn for travelers.

On lecture days, fast days, Sundays and other church occasions, people gathered from miles around to attend the morning service—with a long prayer and sermon—then had a noon rest for refreshment before the afternoon prayer and sermon. The tavern, with its great roaring fireplace, was a welcome winter break from the unheated meeting house. In summer, under shady trees aside the tavern, church-goers gathered to discuss the news and gossip.

The Tavern as Primary News Source

All news emanated from the tavern. It often was the site of town meetings or court procedures. Here, too, a traveler full of news from his last stopping place found a ready audience. Notices to inform citizens of regulations or events were posted on the tavern door. At Medford, MA, it was voted that “their names posted on the several tavern doors shall be a sufficient notice for jurors.”

The Role of Tavern Keeper

Tavern keepers were among the most colorful Colonial characters. They were often prominent in town affairs, well informed on public matters, enjoyed the confidence of those who gathered by their fireside and almost always held public office. A tavern keeper might lead Sunday singing in the meeting house, run the ferry if his tavern was near a river, act as schoolmaster, rule with solemn dignity over local courts, head the local militia or survey lands assigned to townsmen.

Next to the preacher and town clerk, the tavern keeper was apt to be the village’s most important and learned man. His house was a rendezvous for townspeople. Public questions, trade, theology, science, crops, politics and scandal were all mixed together and washed down with flip, toddy, punch or other seductive drinks.

Popular Tavern Drinks

Drinks in demand at the colonial tavern included punch, cider, strong beer, porter, grog, Madeira, port, sherry toddy, claret, sangaree, rum, brandy, syllabub, “Jonavas” (gin), sack mum and ale. Cider, the most common drink of the colonists, was served in many forms: egg cider, mulled cider, cider royal and cider farmed.

Here’s one syllabub recipe.

Fill up your syllabub Pot with cyder and a good store of sugar
Put in as much thick cream by two or three spoonsful at a time, as hard as you can, as though you milk it in
Stir it together exceeding softly over and about.
Let it stand two hours at least

Tavern stories abound in old newspapers, journals, diaries and published town histories. So many phases of life were associated with the tavern. Friends and kin might gather there after a baptism, weddings were celebrated and the tavern was a place of solace after attending a funeral. Tragedies and comedies were enacted there. Romance, with all its shades of love, joy and sorrow, often ran its course there.

There are companion articles on Abbott Tavern in Holden, MA and Colonial beverages with a punch!

Source:

Field, Edward, The Colonial Tavern, 1897. (This book has had several reprints and is available from numerous online booksellers.)

The copyright of the article Colonial Tavern Center of Village Activities in American History is owned by Rosemary E. Bachelor. Permission to republish Colonial Tavern Center of Village Activities in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Colonial Tavern