Restored Eagle To»crn in Holifoi Began os on oidina>y ond wos tolled "The Sign of the Thistle" to* a number
of yeors. It become Mortm's Ordmory in 1 786. the Eogle Hotel in 1 790. Here wo» born one of the earliest
movements lo»ord Americon independence. Here were throshed out the details of the North Caroline
Constitution Here Gcnorol lofoycttc banqueted ond slept
Inns, Taverns
And Ordinaries
Wliorc* muddy Iriivolors r«»slt*d.
n<»ig'lil»or.s occasionally frolickod,
and history was sometimes in ado.
tty T.i'.w m:\\v
Where my house sits on a knoll
overlooking the Deep Creek Cause¬
way in western Halifax County. Bell's
Ordinary once stood. The "Ordi¬
nary.” a commercial enterprise estab¬
lished in colonial days to satiate the
appetites of. and serve as "rest stops"
for the traveling public, became a
common sight along the roadsides of
North Carolina from the trading-path
days to the advent of the railroads.
The travelers— migrants seeking
land for homes, land speculators,
peddlers, liquor and wine salesmen,
horse traders, evangelists, and medi¬
cine men — came by on foot, horse¬
back. in wagons, carts and stage¬
coaches. Since the roads of the time
were at best bad — and in wet weath¬
er nothing but endless trails of red
mud and hub-deep muck, punctuated
every few rods by hazardous creek¬
crossing — the ordinaries of necessity
graced the highways much as service
stations dominate the scene today.
Collet Ixteatcd Ordinaries
In 1770. the Collet Map «prepared by
Captain John Collet, "the humble,
obedient, and dutiful servant of His
Majesty the King. George III"» lo¬
cated a string of ordinaries from the
Chowan River in the east to the Yadkin
River in the central Piedmont. Some of
the names Collet preserved for pos¬
terity are as follows: Brittle's Ordinary
(later became the Brickie Inn. in
Union. Hertford County): Douglas
Ordinary (now St. John’s village, in
Hertford): Edmondson's and Sett’s
ordinaries, in Halifax County: Per¬
son's Ordinary, in Littleton (still
standing). Warren County; Burnt
(Burnet?) Ordinary, near Macon in
Conlrory to fbe obove morkcf'» »oggc»fion that Per¬
son'» Ordmory wo» c»tobli»hcd in 1770. Collet'»
Mop. which lists the tavern
о»
a landmark in thot
year, implies thot it wo» erected »omewhot eorlier.
The line on the marker, "Holifoc-Hillsboro Po»t
Rood." is evidence of the early appropriation of the
Indian Troding Path for colonial traffic.
Warren; Coler’s also in Warren, fol¬
lowed by Paschall’s. a village growing
around them to become Ridgeway,
where immigrants from Germany. Al¬
sace. France. Switzerland, and En¬
gland settled after the Civil War (and
still grow famous and delicious can¬
taloupes); Sumner’s and Hawkins'
places, in Franklin County; Tapley’s.
in northern Durham County: Mc¬
Gee’s. in Lee County; and Bewes Or¬
dinary. on Deep River near the present
Colfax, in Guilford County.
By 1833. when John Mac Rac pub¬
lished his map of North Carolina, the
names of villages and towns had rooted
out the names of the ordinaries, but
records here and there show that road¬
side slopping places did not perish but
became even more important cogs in
the wheels of the increasing trade and
travel. The name "ordinary.” how¬
ever. faded away to be replaced by the
names "tavern" and "inn." By 1800.
"tavern." which means a place that
caters to social drinking in addition to
serving meals to wayfarers, as the or¬
dinaries had done, had become the
identifying word for those houses of
refreshment. As the taverns began to
accommodate the nightly lodger also,
the name "inn" was adopted.
Tavern's Historic Role
However, many of the stopping
places remained in name and function
mainly taverns because they did not
have space in their homes, which usu¬
ally housed the bar. to sleep the pass¬
ing public. Many of those public
houses were operated by farmers and
THE STATE. OciOBtB 1982
