Early Taverns in Carolina
In addition to providing accommodations
for the traveler, they also mere usually a
local social center. uhc»re people gathered
for various pastimes and to discuss the
topics off the day.
SOME very colorful descrip¬
tions of the tavern have been
passed on to us by early North
Carolina travelers and writers.
Adverse or favorable, they present
pictures of an interesting phase
of social life throughout the state.
The tavern, inn, hostelry, or
ordinary, in addition to providing
lodgings, was usually a local social
center where political discussions
were held; billiards, backgammon,
and card games were played: and
newspapers to which the inn¬
keepers subscribed were eagerly-
read. The bar with its domestic
and imported liquors was no small
attraction, the punch bowl being
always in evidence. Out in the
inn-yard, quoits and marbles were
favorite games. Here the stage
coach made its relay stops, the
driver blowing loud blasts on his
tin horn to tell the innkeeper the
number of guests he was to enter¬
tain.
There were fixed prices for these
guests to pay. For instance in
Rowan County in 1782 the Inferior
Court fixed rates which made the
charges for three meals and a
night’s lodging, not including
drinks, amount to the sum of fifty
cents.
Attmore's Description
One of the earliest descriptions
of a North Carolina inn comes from
the diary of William Attmore. a
merchant of Philadelphia, who
came to the state in 1787 to collect
debts owing to his firm. He says
that he stopped in Tarborough at
an inn kept by "Captain Toole, a
Trader.” Here, "Gambling was car¬
ried to a great extent.” By way of
entertainment, some attempts were
made to represent some dramatic
?ieces, but with very bad success.
wo of the Actresses were Adven¬
turesses from Charleston.”
Francis Hall, a British officer
touring North Carolina, a little
later, tells of a tavern in Lumber-
ton. "kept by a general of militia,
who seemed, indeed, to have more
of the spirit of the soldier than of
the landlord, for he declined taking
By
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w. wii so^
payment for the refreshment he
very civilly prepared for me."
On the other hand. John Bern¬
ard, a noted English comedian, in
Carolina about the same time, says
that you might know a Carolina
ordinary "or, as it ought properly
to have been termed, ‘extraordi-
nory,' by an earthen jug suspended
by the handle from a pole; the pipe
of the chimney never rising above
the roof; or a score of black hogs
luxuriating in the sunshine and
mud before the door. On pulling
up at one you usually found the
landlord gone to the market, the
landlady cutting wood in the
swamp, and only a squawling
child upon the floor, and a fero¬
cious house-dog to receive you. . . .
As to edibles, whether you called
for breakfast, dinner or supper the
reply was one -‘eggs and bacon'."
Washington's Visit
George Washington, on his
Southern Tour, used the term “in¬
different" in respect to many of
the taverns of North Carolina.
However, he expressed himself as
pleased with the banquets given
him at various inns. In Salisbury
he visited Steel's Tavern where
Mrs. Elizabeth Maxwell Steel gave
the dejected General Nathanael
Greene two small bags of specie,
her savings for two years. Here
he saw the picture of George III
on the back of which Greene, in
his delight over Mrs. Steel's gift,
had written with a coal taken from
the fireplace: "O George! Hide Thy
Face and Mourn." From Salisbury
he went to Salem and stopped at
the Salem Tavern which may be
seen today on the west side of Main
Street, between West Street and
Washington Avenue. In Wilming¬
ton, Washington stayed at Dorseys
Tavern. Here, tradition says, he
asked "Lai" Dorsey, the innkeeper,
what kind of water the people of
the town had to drink as he had
noticed the surrounding swampy
land. The impudent Dorsey replied
that he didn’t know because he
hadn’t drunk any for forty years.
Among Raleigh's inns were Peter
Casso’s, near the State House,
where the town bell hung; the
Indian Queen, adjacent to the
courthouse; and Bloomsbury Tav¬
ern whose host was Joel Lane.
Peter Casso's Inn
The house in which Andrew
Johnson was born stood originally
on the grounds of Peter Casso’s
Inn. Jacob Johnson. Andrew’s
father was hostler at the inn and
his mother. Polly McDonough
Johnson, was weaver in the John¬
son family. According to tradition,
while Hannah Casso was attending
her wedding ball at the State
House on the night of December
29, 1808. she was told that Polly,
the weaver, wanted her. When
Hannah reached the upstairs bed¬
room, she was shown Polly’s new¬
born son and asked to name him.
Dropping on her knees beside the
infant, she said: "I name thee, on
this my wedding night. Andrew."
J. P. Arthur, describing taverns
in the stage-coach days of western
North Carolina, says that whenever
there was a change of horses, the
passengers would enter the inn.
“either to get warm inside or out¬
side. frequently on both sides . . .
When meals were to be taken there
was a rush for the ‘washing place,’
usually provided with several
buckets of cold spring water and
tin basins, with roller towels. Then
the rush for the dining room and
the well-cooked food served there.
Most of these meals were prepared
on open hearths before glowing
beds of coals in wide fireplaces
whose stone hearths frequently
extended half across the kitchen
floor."
There are only three states
which exceed North Carolina in the
production of lumber; they are
Oregon. Washington, and Cali¬
fornia.
THE STATE. APRIL 24. 1948
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