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OLD TAVERNS OF NEW YORK
by
W. HARRISON BAYLES
Frank Allaben Genealogical Company
Forty-Second Street Building, New York
Copyright, 1915, by Frank Allaben Genealogical Company
Old Taverns of New York
Contents
Page
PREFACE xv
I DUTCH TAVERNS 1
Indian Trade--First Settlement--Purchase of Manhattan
Island--Popular Taverns in New Amsterdam--Sunday Closing
Under Stuyvesant--Dutch Festivities
II NEW YORK AND THE PIRATES 37
The English Conquest--Horse Races--Regulations for
Innkeepers--First Merchants' Exchange--Famous Taverns of
the Period--Early Buccaneers and Their Relations with
Government Officials--Efforts of the Earl of Bellomont to
Restrain Piracy
III THE COFFEE HOUSE 65
An Exciting Election in 1701--Popularity of the Coffee
House--Aftermath of the Leisler Troubles--Political
Agitation under Lord Cornbury--Trials of Nicholas Bayard
and Roger Baker--Conferences at the Coffee House--Festivals
under the English Rule--Official Meetings in Taverns and
Coffee Houses
IV THE BLACK HORSE 91
The Black Horse Tavern, Scene of Many Political Conferences
in the Early Eighteenth Century--Rip Van Dam and Governor
Cosby--Lewis Morris' Campaign--Zenger's Victory for Liberty
of the Press--Old New York Inns--Privateering--The Negro
Plot
V THE MERCHANTS' COFFEE HOUSE 127
The Slave Market, Later the Meal Market--The Merchants'
Coffee House, Famous for More than Half a Century--Clubs of
Colonial New York--The Merchants' Exchange--Charter of
King's College, Now Columbia University--French and Indian
War--The Assembly Balls--The Press Gang--Some Old
Inns--Surrender of Fort Washington
VI TAVERN SIGNS 167
Doctor Johnson on the Comforts of an Inn--Landlords of the
Olden Time--Some Curious Tavern Signs--Intemperance in the
Eighteenth Century--Sports and Amusements
VII THE KING'S ARMS 191
The Crown and Thistle, Meeting Place of St. Andrew's
Society and Later Called the King's Head--The King's Arms,
Formerly the Exchange Coffee House and the Gentlemen's
Coffee House--Broadway of the Eighteenth Century--The Stamp
Act and the Non-Importation Agreement--The Liberty
Pole--Recreation Gardens
VIII HAMPDEN HALL 227
The Queen's Head Tavern, Where Was Organized the New York
Chamber of Commerce--Pre-Revolutionary Excitement--Battle
of Golden Hill--Hampden Hall, Meeting Place of the Sons of
Liberty and Attacked by the British--List of Members of the
Social Club, 1775--Other Clubs and Societies of the
Period--The Moot, a Lawyers' Club and Its Charter
Members--The Tax on Tea, Committee of Correspondence and
Outbreak of the Revolution
IX THE PROVINCE ARMS 271
The Continental Congress--Marinus Willett's Seizure of
Arms--Flight of the Tories--Happenings at the Coffee
House--The Province Arms, Resort of British Officers--Other
Taverns--The Theatre Royal--Sports--The Refugee
Club--Social Affairs Under the British Occupation
X FRAUNCES' TAVERN 307
The Treaty of Peace--Celebration Dinners at Sam Fraunces'
House and Other Taverns--Evacuation of New
York--Washington's Farewell to His Officers, at Fraunces'
Tavern, 1783--First New York Bank--Re-organization of
Chamber of Commerce--Social, Philanthropic, and Learned
Societies of the Day--The Cincinnati--The New
Constitution--Washington's Inauguration--Sam Fraunces,
Steward of the President
XI THE TONTINE COFFEE HOUSE 351
The Tammany Society--Tontine Coffee House Founded by
Prominent New York Merchants--New York Stock Exchange in
the Tontine--Marriner's Tavern, Later Called the Roger
Morris House and the Jumel Mansion--The Tammany
Wigwam--Brillât-Savarin in New York
XII THE CITY HOTEL 385
Club Life After the Revolution--The City Hotel and the
Assembly Balls--Musical Societies--Second Hudson
Centennial, 1809--St. Andrew's Society Dinners and Other
Feasts--Tea Gardens--The Embargo of 1807--Society of
Mechanics and Tradesmen--New England Society--Political
Associations--Tammany Hall--The Battery--The Ugly Club
XIII THE SHAKESPEARE TAVERN 417
The War of 1812--Dinner to Naval Victors at the City
Hotel--Dinners to Captain Lawrence, General Harrison,
Commodores Bainbridge and Perry--News of Peace--The
Shakespeare Tavern, a Musical and Literary Centre--Cradle
of the Seventh Regiment--A New York Inn Comparable to
London's "Mermaid Tavern" and "Turk's Head"--Visits of
Monroe and Jackson--The Erie Canal--First New York Savings
Bank--The Price-Wilson Duel
XIV ROAD HOUSES 445
Prejudice Against Dancing--Balls--Debates and Lectures--The
City Hotel--Niblo's Garden--Road Houses--Trotting
Matches--Upper Third Avenue--Suburban Drives and
Taverns--Lafayette's Visit--Clubs--End of City Hotel--Era
of Hotels
INDEX 481
Illustrations
Page
"Beer Was the Dutchman's Drink" 5
The City Tavern from the Justin Dancker's View, 1650 15
The White Horse Tavern 18
The Damen House 19
Water Gate, Foot of Wall Street 24
"They Had Discovered the Toothsome Terrapin" 31
"The Man of the Knight of St. George" 38
The Earl of Bellomont 56
"As Genuine Pirates as Ever Sailed the Sea" 57
Captain Tew 59
The Bayard Punch Bowl 74
Viscount Cornbury 78
Old Tankard 80
The Black Horse Tavern 90
Rip Van Dam 93
Governor Cosby 94
Lewis Morris 95
Fac-Simile News Item from the New York Weekly Journal, November
5, 1733 99
Andrew Hamilton 102
The Ball at the Black Horse 107
"Which Were All Drank in Bumpers" 109
"The Violin and Flute, by 'Private Hands'" 111
House at 122 William Street 117
The Royal Exchange 136
Sir Danvers Osborne, Governor of New York 139
"The Drumbeat Was Constantly Heard in the Streets" 145
Sir Charles Hardy, Governor of New York 147
Colonel Peter Schuyler 150
The Press Gang 153
The Bull's Head Tavern 157
The Roger Morris House 160
The Blue Bell Tavern 161
The Old Time Landlord 169
"Hard Drinking Prevailed" 171
Good Old Madeira 173
A Racing Trophy 180
Bull Baiting, From an Old Advertisement 184
The Bowling Green, From Lyne's Map 186
William Alexander, Earl of Stirling 192
House Built by Cornelis Steenwyck 197
The De Lancey House 201
Liberty Boys 214
At Ranelagh 220
Corner of Broadway and Murray Street, 1816 235
Captain A. McDougall 241
Merchants' Coffee House and Coffee House Slip 254
Marinus Willett Stopping the Transfer of Arms 274
Baroness De Riedesel 298
In the Coffee House 318
"Gambling With Cards Was Pretty General" 339
Simmons' Tavern 342
Fac-Simile Receipt of Sam Fraunces, as Washington's Steward 343
The Bowery Theatre 348
Tontine Coffee House 356
Old Sleigh 365
The City Hotel 373
Martling's Tavern 376
Belvedere Club House 382
Fac-Simile Bill of the City Hotel, 1807 384
Anthelme Brillât-Savarin 387
White Conduit House 398
Robert R. Livingston 404
Washington Hall 409
Tammany Hall 411
Fraunces' Tavern About 1830 412
The Great Naval Dinner at the City Hotel, December 29, 1812 416
Commodore Stephen Decatur 418
Commodore Isaac Hull 420
Captain James Lawrence 421
The Shakespeare Tavern 429
"As Choice Spirits as Ever Supped at the Turk's Head" 431
De Witt Clinton 438
Contoit's Garden 454
Niblo's Garden 457
Reynolds' Beer House 459
Cato's House 461
The Old Hazzard House 462
Burnham's Mansion House 464
Fitz-Greene Halleck 470
J. Fenimore Cooper 472
Bunker's Mansion House 477
PREFACE
Much has been written about the old taverns of New York in a disconnected
way, but heretofore there has been no connected story linking them with
the current events of the early history of the city. This story I have
attempted to tell from the Dutch settlement down to the early part of the
last century, when the growth of the city and extensive travel entirely
changed their character. In doing this I have found myself at issue with
many writers on the subject. In every such case the conclusions set down
in this book rest I believe upon unquestionable documentary evidence, in
part referred to in the text.
Before any newspapers appeared the tavern was a very important institution
in the community. It was the medium of all news both political and social,
the one place where people of all kinds met to exchange views on every
subject of interest to the general public. In this way it exercised an
influence second only to the church.
The connection of the taverns with the history of the city was very close.
There was hardly an event of importance but had its inception in the
taverns, where all questions of interest to the public were discussed as
in no other place. They were frequented by all classes and the influence
of each one of them on the community depended entirely on the character of
those who patronized it. The merchants, the politicians and the men of
letters each had their places of rendezvous.
Following the history of the city chronologically I have endeavored to
link with it the influence of the taverns on current events, and at the
same time show up the interesting features of tavern life by details of
happenings at these places. I have made no attempt to increase interest by
any means except the plain, unvarnished truth, which I have considered
sufficiently attractive. Tales of the old taverns are enhanced in interest
by a glamour of antiquity surrounding the subject by which few can fail to
be charmed.
Nothing exists at the present day in any way resembling an old tavern of
the first class in colonial times. It was the place for political
discussion, for social clubs and for meetings of all kinds. Every one went
to the tavern and from no other source could a person gain so much
knowledge of public affairs.
W. Harrison Bayles
OLD TAVERNS OF NEW YORK
I
DUTCH TAVERNS
[Sidenote: Trading with the Indians]
On the return of Hendrick Hudson from his voyage of discovery in 1609, his
reports were so favorable, especially, as to the abundance of valuable
furs which were to be had at very little cost, that several merchants of
Amsterdam, without delay, fitted out trading vessels and sent them to
trade with the Indians in the territory he had visited. The returns were
satisfactory, and they formed themselves into a company under the name of
the United Netherland Company and established a trading post on the
southern part of Manhattan Island. The exclusive privilege of trade, which
had been granted them by Holland, expired in the year 1618, and they
endeavored to have the grant renewed or extended, but succeeded only in
obtaining a special license, expiring yearly, which they held for two or
three years longer.
In the meantime a more extensive association had been formed by some
merchants and capitalists of Holland, who in the year 1621 received a
charter under the title of the West India Company, which gave to them the
exclusive privilege of trade on the whole Atlantic coast, so far as the
jurisdiction of Holland extended. Powers of government were conferred upon
the company and the right to make treaties with the Indians.
In 1623, they sent out a vessel which carried thirty families to begin the
colony. The vessel landed her passengers and freight near the present site
of Albany and a settlement was there established. The return cargo of
skins and other freight was valued at about twelve thousand dollars.
[Sidenote: First Settlement]
It having been determined to fix the headquarters of the company in New
Netherland on Manhattan Island, two ships cleared from Holland in 1625
with a large number of settlers for this place. With these was sent out
Peter Minuit, as Director-General, to superintend the interests of the
company. On board the vessels were carried more than a hundred head of
cattle, besides other domestic animals, such as would be needed by the
people in a permanent settlement. This was the first real settlement on
Manhattan Island. The few huts and storehouses, surrounded by a stockade
for protection against the Indians, although it appears they were very
friendly, which had been located here for many years, was not a
settlement; it was only a trading post; no attempt had been made to
cultivate the land.
Unlike the New England settlers and the Swedes upon the Delaware the Dutch
did not make use of the log house, so well adapted by economy, ease of
construction and comfort, as a temporary home. It is said that Dutch
traders built huts very much like those of the Indian tribes of the
neighborhood.
The Indian house or hut was made by placing in the ground two parallel
rows of upright saplings adjoining each other and bringing their tops
together, lapping them over each other in a curve. On this were fastened
boughs and reeds, as a protection against wind and rain, the inside being
lined with bark nicely joined together. If such skill were used in joining
the bark on the inside as is displayed by some of the North American
Indians in building their canoes, it must have presented a very neat and
smooth appearance. There was no floor, the fire, in winter, being built
upon the ground, the smoke escaping through an opening in the roof. The
width of the house was invariably twenty feet, the length being regulated
by the number of families occupying it.
If the Dutch traders used such huts they undoubtedly modified them
somewhat as to fireplace and chimney and probably made many other
improvements to suit their needs.
[Sidenote: Manhattan Island Purchased]
Peter Minuit, the Director-General, to obtain title to the island,
purchased it from the Indian proprietors, and the settlers commenced their
town by staking out a fort, under the direction of Kryn Frederick, an
engineer sent out for that purpose, and set about the erection of their
temporary homes, which were little better than those of their
predecessors, the traders. The next year, 1626, the machinery for a saw
mill arrived from Holland and a mill worked by wind power was erected on
what is now Governor's Island, which was then covered with a fine growth
of forest trees, which after being cut up, could be easily floated to the
little town. The settlers were thus supplied with lumber which enabled
them to erect buildings more conformable to their needs. They built, as a
rule, houses of only one story in height, with two rooms on the ground
floor and a garret above. The roof was reed or straw thatch, and this
material continued to be so used for about thirty years after the first
settlement of New Amsterdam. The fireplace was built of stone to the
height of about six feet, having an oven of the same material by the side
of it, extending beyond the rear of the house. The chimney above the stone
work was made of boards plastered inside with mortar. The average value of
these houses was about one hundred and fifty dollars.
The Dutchman did not come to America for the sake of religious or
political freedom or to escape persecution. He was lured by the profits
of trade and the prospect of finding a better and more extensive home for
himself and for his children. In the little village or town that had been
formed by the first settlers on the southern point of Manhattan Island no
Puritanical laws or regulations prevented him from dealing in beer or
strong drink, or in drinking as much as he had a mind to. Beer was the
Dutchman's drink, and the West India Company very early erected the
Company's Brewery on the north side of Bridge Street, between the present
Whitehall and Broad Streets, to supply the little town with its usual
beverage.
[Illustration: "BEER WAS THE DUTCHMAN'S DRINK"]
The Dutch trader bartered with the Indians for furs, and as the little
cluster of houses near the fort grew in population some of the traders
also sold, when they could, a little beer and other strong drink which
their furs enabled them to obtain from the ships coming into port. For
many years, except with the Indians, there does not appear to have been
any restraint on this trade in liquor, but, although there were many
houses where it was kept on tap for sale, no provision seems to have been
made for the lodging of strangers.
[Sidenote: The City Tavern]
The Dutch from up the river or from the nearby settlements, which were
very scanty until the time of Stuyvesant, were, no doubt, always able to
find relatives or friends with whom they could lodge; but the English
skippers who stopped over on their trips between Virginia and the New
England colonies were not only strangers but spoke a strange language,
unknown to most of the inhabitants, and it is not difficult to understand
the reluctance of having them as guests in the small houses where the
accommodations were very limited. Governor Kieft says that he was put to
great inconvenience in taking care of them, and so, in 1641 built a large
stone house to accommodate and care for them and other strangers, which
was known as the Stadt Herbergh or City Tavern. There must have been
urgent need for such a house, for it was the most costly building that had
been erected up to this time. The expenditure was much greater than for
the building of a new and substantial church in the fort, a short time
after. It was, no doubt, intended to impress and increase the respect of
strangers and was an object of the admiration and pride of the citizens of
New Amsterdam. It was located in a very conspicuous place, with one of its
sides facing the East River, apart from the other houses of the town. It
was two stories high with a basement underneath and spacious lofts above.
In the rear was an extension or addition, a long, narrow structure which
was apparently used for kitchen purposes and probably for other uses.
Early in the year 1643 the Stadt Herbergh, or City Tavern, was leased to
Philip Gerritsen, its first landlord, at a rental of three hundred
guilders, or about one hundred and twenty dollars, per annum and opened
for the entertainment of the public; afterwards to Adriaen Gerritsen, down
to the beginning of the year 1652, when the tavern was being conducted by
Abraham Delanoy. According to agreement, Gerritsen was to sell the
Company's wine, brandy and beer, and no other, the Company agreeing not to
allow any wine to be sold out of their cellar to the injury of the lessee.
The Director-General also promised that a well should be dug near the
house and that a brew-house should be erected in the rear or that
Gerritsen should be permitted the use of the Company's brew-house.
Shortly after the opening of the tavern it was put to good use in
sheltering the fugitives who came to it for protection. Among these were
the settlers from Achter Col, across the Kills from Staten Island, on the
mainland, who, driven from their homes, which were destroyed by the
Indians, were lodged for a time at the City Tavern, at the expense of the
West India Company.
The tavern seems to have been in frequent use as a place of detention of
persons obnoxious to the Director and his Council and of persons suspected
of offenses against the orders of the Director-General, and it is probable
that some part of the building was set apart for that purpose. Sometimes
the prisoners were quite numerous, as when, in 1651, the crew of the ship
"Nieuw Nederlandsche Fortuyn" were quartered here, and also when in 1656,
after it had become the City Hall, were brought here the twenty-three
Englishmen who had attempted to make a settlement in the present
Westchester, hostile to the Dutch claim. Notwithstanding this, the tavern
came to be patronized by many of the best people of the place and by the
officers of the West India Company. It became a place where a great deal
of business was transacted, both public and private, and was one of the
places where all public notices were posted, the others being the fort and
the barn of the West India Company. It was, too, before it became the City
Hall, the place where the court frequently sat for the trial of minor
cases. Here was held in the fall and winter of 1653 the Landtdag, or Diet,
consisting of representatives from each of the Dutch towns, for the
purpose of providing means of defence against the Indians. This was the
most important popular convention that had ever been held in New
Amsterdam.
[Sidenote: The City Tavern Becomes the City Hall]
In 1652 New Amsterdam was incorporated as a city under the government of a
schout, two burgomasters and five schepens, and was allowed a separate
magistracy, although not independent of Governor and Council. This made it
necessary to have a city hall or town house, and soon after the City
Tavern was ceded to the city and henceforth was known as the "stadt huys"
or city hall.
[Sidenote: Captain Underhill Makes Trouble]
In the first settlement of New England the laws and regulations as to the
sale of strong drink and as to restraint in indulgence were very rigid,
but afterwards much relaxed. In New Amsterdam there was little restraint;
so that when the notorious Puritan Captain John Underhill came down to New
Amsterdam, however exemplary may have been his behavior while at home
among his New England friends (although there had been some complaint), he
let himself loose and became, as some would say, "gloriously drunk." On
the night of the 15th of March, 1644, in the parlor of Philip Gerritsen
of the City Tavern, Doctor Hans Kiersted, Dominie Bogardus, Gysbert Opdyck
and several others, with their wives, were having a supper and spending an
agreeable evening. Some time after the supper, while they were enjoying
themselves, Captain Underhill, with Lieutenant Baxter and a drummer, who
had evidently made the rounds of the town and were in an advanced state of
intoxication, appeared at the door. Gerritsen could not forbid entrance to
the worthy captain, but told him that he was entertaining a party of
friends with their wives and requested him to take a separate room where
he would serve them. They were finally induced to do this after much talk.
They invited some of the company to drink with them and they complied.
Baxter invited Opdyck to join them but he refused. Thereupon Underhill and
his companions drew their swords and cut in pieces the cans on the shelves
in the tavern, hacked the door-posts and endeavored by force to get into
the room where the supper party was. This was for some time resisted by
the landlady with a leaden bolt and by the landlord trying to keep the
door closed; but, in spite of all opposition, they succeeded in forcing
their way in. Underhill was in such a state that it was quite uncertain at
what moment he might take a notion to flesh his sword in any Dutchman who
stood in his way. With his sword half drawn he cried: "Clear out of here,
for I shall strike at random." The fiscal and a guard from the fort were
sent for, but they did not succeed in quieting the drunken Englishmen. In
reply to some remarks of the Dominie, who suggested that the
Director-General himself be sent for, Underhill said, as deposed by
witnesses: "If the Director come here, 'tis well. I had rather speak to a
wise man than a fool." To prevent further and more serious mischief,
fearing that at any moment Underhill might pink the Dominie, the supper
party withdrew, leaving Underhill in possession of the field. Thus the
gallant Captain scored another victory.
When Wouter Van Twiller came out, in 1633, as Director-General, the
pressing claims of England to the control of the whole territory on the
Atlantic Coast, induced the West India Company to send out with him a
military force of one hundred and four soldiers to garrison the fort.
These were the first that had been sent over.
[Sidenote: Sergeant Peter Cock's Tavern]
Among the soldiers, some years later, was a man by the name of Peter Cock,
who held the rank of sergeant. He built, or had constructed for him, a
little house, such as were being put up at that time, northwest from the
fort, on ground now occupied by No. 1 Broadway. It was very likely the
first house built on that side of the fort and was used as a tavern. It
was no doubt more patronized by the soldiers than any other.
Sergeant Cock was in command of several regular soldiers under La Montagne
in the expedition against the Indians on Staten Island in 1643. On their
return to New Amsterdam, they were all immediately sent out to Greenwich
and Stamford, where they scoured the country in search of the Indians. In
November of the same year Governor Kieft dispatched one hundred and twenty
men, under the command of Dr. La Montagne, Cock and Underhill, to
exterminate the Canarsee Indians. They brought back from this expedition
some prisoners, who were afterwards barbarously treated, inhumanly
tortured and finally killed in the public streets of New Amsterdam.
At Sergeant Cock's tavern the details of these expeditions and the part
taken in them by each individual were, doubtless, thoroughly discussed by
the soldiers as they drank their beer or other beverages served out to
them. They talked over the quarrels of the Dominie and the
Director-General and the last sermon in which the Dominie fulminated his
biting diatribes against the Director; how the drummer beat up the drum
and the gunner touched off one of the big guns when the Dominie was in the
midst of one of his harangues, which distracted the congregation and
almost threw them into a panic.
Next to the lot on which Sergeant Cock had built his house Martin Crigier
obtained the grant of a lot in 1643, on which a house appears to have
already been built, probably by himself. Crigier is said to have come out
in the service of the West India Company when a young man, after his
separation or release from which he had engaged in the business of trader
and sloop captain on the North River and became an active and conspicuous
citizen. He was certainly a doughty Dutchman, his name occupying a
prominent place in the military annals of New Amsterdam.
The military expeditions in which he was engaged were numerous. In 1657 he
went out in command of forty men to settle difficulties on the Delaware.
In 1659 he commanded a force of sixty men, sent out to the same region to
repel a threatened invasion of the English. In 1663 he was in command of
the force sent to Esopus to punish the savages for their massacre of the
Dutch, and in this expedition he seems to have had the complete confidence
of Governor Stuyvesant, himself a valiant soldier. With Cornelis Van
Tienhoven he was sent to New Haven to treat with the English and he was
Burgomaster of New Amsterdam in 1653, 1654, 1659, 1660 and 1663.
[Sidenote: Burgomaster Martin Crigier, Tavern-Keeper]
He was an innkeeper and we can easily imagine that his house must have
been the resort of all the Dutch politicians of his day, where were
discussed not only plans of attack and defence, but also the policies of
the little town in all its various aspects, both internally and in
relation to the Indians and the English. The English, no doubt, were
thoroughly discussed, for there was constant trouble with them at this
time.
The house was near the fort, on ground now occupied by No. 3 Broadway, and
looked out on the open ground of the present Bowling Green, which was then
the parade of the soldiers, being in front of the gate of the fort, the
eastern side of it being used as a market field on appointed days, where
were displayed all kinds of country produce brought in from the
surrounding country. Here, also, in this open space, in 1656 and
subsequent years, was held, in the latter part of October and all through
November, the cattle market for store and fat cattle, sheep, goats, hogs,
bucks, and such like. It was promised that stalls and other conveniences
would be erected for those who brought such animals to market. This
cattle-market, notice of which, by letter, had been sent out to the Dutch
and English of Connecticut and Long Island, no doubt brought to New
Amsterdam a great many from the surrounding country, even as far away as
New Haven. The taverns were full and the life and activity of the city was
much increased. The young men drank in the conversations of the city
burghers at the taverns, discussed with them the price of beaver skins and
other articles of trade with the Indians, and in turn told of the arts of
the trapper and hunter, as well as adventures with the Indians and with
the wild animals of the forest. These visitors, for a time, made the
taverns gay and lively, and sometimes there were, no doubt, heated talks
and even quarrels and personal encounters.
[Illustration: THE CITY TAVERN FROM THE JUSTIN DANCKER'S VIEW, 1650]
In front of the taverns of Captain Crigier and Sergeant Cock groups of men
could be seen at such times bargaining and discussing prices and the news
of the day. Beer was to be had and there was plenty of talk, for the
outlying settlers brought in the news of their own sections and were very
anxious to learn all the news of the city and still more anxious to get
news from the fatherland.
Those who visited the city to bring in cattle and attend this market made
of it a pleasure trip long to be remembered. Although New Amsterdam could
not furnish any amusement that would intoxicate a modern New Yorker yet,
to those who were passing their days in isolated homes, the gaiety of the
little city was a source of great enjoyment; and in returning to their
quiet homes they carried back with them all the little luxuries which they
could afford and which the city could supply. They had also a great deal
to tell their relatives and friends.
There is no doubt that when Peter Cock and Martin Crigier built their
taverns to catch the patronage of the soldiers at the fort, the ground in
the neighborhood to the west of the fort and along the river was in a
perfect state of nature, untouched by the hand of man. The authorities
kept the space in front of the fort clear of building; which, without any
preconceived plan or intention on their part, resulted in leaving a
triangular open space, which became the parade for the soldiers, the
market place for cattle, and, afterwards, in the time of the English, the
Bowling Green.
In September, 1659, transfer was made of a lot on the west side of the
Heere Straat (Broadway), which was described as bounded on the south by
the _newly-built house and lot of Burgomaster Martin Crigier_. It was
about this time that improvements and a great advance were being made in
the style of building, and as Crigier was at this time and had been some
years previous a burgomaster, and was besides a conspicuous man in the
community, it is natural to suppose that he would put up a good and
substantial house.
On the other side of the fort, close under the shelter of its eastern
wall, at the corner of the present Whitehall and Stone Streets, where the
Produce Exchange now stands, was a little tavern which had been built in
the most economical manner in 1641, and was kept by a Frenchman, Philip
Gerard, called by the Dutch Geraerdy, who had left the gay city of Paris
for life among the Dutch of New Amsterdam. Geraerdy probably had good
reasons for the change; perhaps it was to escape conscription in the wars
then raging in Europe. Riding the wooden horse in the fort was a common
punishment of the soldiers, and Philip Geraerdy, we presume from a sense
of humor, or for some other good reason, called his house the Wooden
Horse, or at least it is so called in the Dutch records. The soldiers no
doubt much preferred the wooden horse (or bench) in Philip's tavern to
that in the fort. Philip was himself at one time a soldier, and had ridden
the wooden horse, for May 27, 1642, "Philip Geraerdy, a soldier, for
having been absent from the guard without leave," was sentenced to ride
the wooden horse during parade, with a pitcher in one hand and a drawn
sword in the other.
[Sidenote: The White Horse Tavern]
After a few years the name of Philip's house underwent a change. This may
have been the result of a sort of evolutionary process, induced by Philip,
who erected in front of his house a sign on which was painted a white
horse on a dark background, very conspicuous. The house became known as
the Sign of the White Horse or the White Horse Tavern.
[Illustration: THE WHITE HORSE TAVERN]
Some lively scenes were connected with the little tavern. One dark night
in the spring of 1643, farmer Jan Damen, whose house was just beyond the
present Wall Street near Broadway, drank deep in Philip's house, and was
in such a condition that Geraerdy thought it prudent to guide him home,
which act of benevolence cost him dearly. Damen must have been in a mood
that threatened trouble, for Geraerdy had taken the precaution to draw his
sword from its scabbard and carry it himself. At the house Damen's serving
man, armed with a long knife, resisted his master's entrance. Damen used
the scabbard as a weapon and also secured a knife, and in the fight which
ensued Geraerdy was, as the surgeon declared, dangerously wounded, Damen
having struck him in the dark under the shoulder blade.
[Illustration: THE DAMEN HOUSE]
It was a dramatic and semi-tragic scene when "Black John," who hailed from
the seaport town of Monnikendam, near Amsterdam, one morning, as they were
at the house of Philip Geraerdy, addressed Ensign Hendrick Van Dyck,
saying: "Brother, my service to you," to which the ensign answered:
"Brother, I thank you." "Black John" did not hand over the can, but
instead struck the ensign with it on his forehead so that blood flowed,
saying that that was his Monnikendam fashion, and threw him over on his
back. This, it is related, was done without having words or dispute of any
kind.
Geraerdy became a sergeant in the burgher troops, and while keeping a
tavern was also a trader and a man of business. Besides his own language
he could speak both Dutch and English, acting occasionally as an
interpreter. He succeeded so well that in a few years he built for himself
a substantial house on that part of his lot fifty or sixty feet down from
the corner on Stone Street.
[Sidenote: Taverns Regulated]
When Governor Peter Stuyvesant arrived, in May, 1647, he found New
Amsterdam, to use an expression of the present day, "a wide open town."
Before the close of the month he issued an order requiring that all places
where liquor was sold should remain closed on Sunday before two o'clock
in the afternoon, and, in case of preaching in the fort, until four
o'clock,--this, under penalty of the owners being deprived of their
occupation, and besides being fined six Carolus guilders for each person
who should be found drinking wine or beer within the stated time,
excepting only travellers and those who were daily customers, fetching the
drinks to their own homes; and that all such places should be closed every
night at the ringing of the bell about nine o'clock. In issuing this order
he says: "Whereas we have experienced the violence of our inhabitants,
when drunk, their quarrelling, fighting and hitting each other, even on
the Lord's day of rest, of which we have ourselves witnessed the painful
example last Sunday, in contravention of law, to the contempt and disgrace
of our person and office, to the annoyance of our neighbors, and to the
disregard and contempt of God's holy laws and ordinances," etc.
In March, 1648, he found that further action was necessary. He declared
that one-fourth of the houses had been turned into taverns for the sale of
brandy, tobacco and beer, and that they were detrimental to the welfare of
the community; he therefore issued a set of rules for their regulation. No
new tap-houses should be opened without the unanimous vote of the Director
and Council. Those who had been tapsters could continue as such for four
years at least, but in the meantime, should seek some other means of
livelihood, so as not to be dependent on it. Orders as to closing at nine
o'clock every night and on Sundays were repeated. Tapsters were to report
all fights or disorderly conduct in their places, and physicians were to
report all cases where they were called on to dress wounds received in
such disturbances. This does not necessarily indicate that New Amsterdam
was at this time a disorderly place, for like New York of the present day,
it was a cosmopolitan city. The population at that time was not over five
hundred souls, and it has been declared that eighteen different languages
were spoken by the inhabitants.
[Sidenote: Litschoe's Tavern]
Some time previous to the year 1648 Daniel Litschoe established an inn on
what is now Pearl Street in the outskirts of the town, which became the
resort of the country people coming in from Long Island. Litschoe came out
to New Amsterdam with the earliest settlers as ensign in the military
service of the Dutch. He was with Stuyvesant at Beverwyck and on his order
hauled down the lord's colors. He also went out with Stuyvesant in the
expedition against the Swedes on the Delaware as lieutenant.
The tavern seems to have been a good-sized building, for it is spoken of
as "the great house," but this is to be taken as in comparison with its
neighbors. It had at least a quarter of an acre of ground attached to it,
and stood back some little distance from the street. A part of the lot is
now covered by No. 125 Pearl Street. In the spring of 1651, Litschoe
leased this house to Andries Jochemsen, who kept it as a tavern or ale
house for many years and had lots of trouble with the authorities. He
would tap on Sundays and after nine o'clock, and his house was the resort
of disorderly persons. After keeping tavern for some years in a house
which he had built just outside the city wall, Litschoe purchased a lot
inside the wall between it and the house he had resided in some years
before, and here he, and after his death in 1662, his wife, Annetje, kept
a tavern for many years.
When Sir Henry Moody came from Virginia in 1660 to exchange ratifications
of the treaty to regulate commerce between that colony and New Netherland
he was received with all the usual diplomatic honors. Two members of the
council, under escort of halberdiers, were sent "to compliment him in his
lodgings," and Moody, appearing in the fort, presented his credentials. He
resided a considerable time at the house of Daniel Litschoe and when he
left the city he failed to settle his score, for which his library left at
the house was sold. More people came into the city over the river road
from the Long Island ferry than from any other direction, and Litschoe's
tavern near the city gate was an inviting resting place. It was one of the
stations where fire-buckets were kept for use in cases of emergency.
[Illustration: WATER GATE, FOOT OF WALL STREET]
The city wall, above mentioned, was a line of palisades straight across
the island along the northerly side of the present Wall Street, passing
through the present Trinity Churchyard. On the inside of the palisades was
an embankment and a ditch. It was built in the year 1653, when England and
Holland were at war and New Amsterdam was threatened by the New England
colonists. Through this line of defence there were two gates, the
land-gate at the present junction of Broadway and Wall Street and the
water-gate at the river road or present Pearl Street.
[Sidenote: Peter Cock's Troubles to Obtain a Wife]
Peter Cock added much to the piquancy of the gossip of the taverns and the
town when, in 1653, probably no longer a soldier, he brought suit against
Annetje Cornelissen Van Vorst, claiming the fulfillment of a promise of
marriage. The case occupied the time and attention of the Court of
Burgomasters and Schepens at a great many sessions, statements and
counter-statements being presented to the Court, who, considering the case
too large for them, sent it, with the papers, to the Director and Council
for their decision. It was sent back to the Court of Burgomasters and
Schepens, with a recommendation to appoint a committee to examine the
papers and report. The final decision, pronounced May 18, 1654, was that
the promise was a binding contract. From this decision Annetje appealed,
but it was confirmed. In some way Annetje obtained a release, at any rate,
she married November 11, 1656, Claes Jansen Van Purmerendt, a tobacco
planter of Paulus Hook. Peter consoled himself with another Annetje, for
on June 13, 1657, he married Annetje Dirks, of Amsterdam.
In 1661 Annetje Cock was a widow and in control of the tavern which Peter
Cock had left. She asked permission to build a new house on the southeast
corner of the lot, which request was refused, as it would be too near the
fort. Her husband had contracted for the building of a house on the lot,
which she claimed was voided by his death, and wished to make a new
contract with others, but the court decided that the old contract was
binding. A new house was built which was kept by her as a tavern for many
years.
[Sidenote: A Dutch Tavern]
The taverns of New Amsterdam were probably modeled somewhat after those of
Holland, for the Dutch were a people who stuck to the customs of the
fatherland. The description of a Dutch tavern, from the journal of one of
our citizens who visited a part of the Netherlands where customs have not
changed for centuries is here given.
"It was the business of the good vrow or her maid to show up the
traveller, and open the doors in the smooth partition of the box which was
to receive his weary limbs for the night, and which otherwise he might not
be able to discover, and after he crept into it, to come back again and
blow out the candle, and in the morning to draw the curtains of the
windows at the hour he fixed to rise. There was generally one room in
which all the guests were received, and where there was a pleasant reunion
in the evening, and all the visitors ate, drank and smoked. It had, in one
corner, a closet, which, when opened (and, honestly, it was not
unfrequently opened), disclosed sundry decanters, glasses and black
bottles; and, on one side of the room, a rack in which were suspended by
their bowls a score or two of very long pipes, each one inscribed with
the name of a neighbor or owner. This was the room of Mynheer the
landlord. He had no care beyond this; mevrow was the head of the house;
she attended to all the wants of the guests, and gave them the information
which they might desire. She was always on the spot as when, with a 'wet
te rusten,' like a good mother, she bade you good night, and when, with a
'hoo-y-reis,' like an old friend, she bade you good-by."
In the contract for building the ferry house on the Long Island side of
the East River for Egbert Van Borsum in 1655, provision was made for
bedsteads to be built in the walls as described above. Thus an apartment
could be made to accommodate several travellers at night and yet, in day
time, present a neat appearance and be used as a public room. Provision
was also made for the closet or pantry, for it was a source of profit.
A few years later the Ferry Tavern of Van Borsum had acquired such a
reputation, to which the culinary art of Annetje, his wife, greatly
contributed, that it became the resort of the best citizens when they
wished for something extra good, and of the officials of government, as we
find that a bill rendered by Van Borsum in February, 1658, for wine and
liquor furnished the Director and other officers was ordered to be paid.
[Sidenote: A Grand Dinner]
When, in 1658, Captain Beaulieu wished to give a fine dinner to his
friends, he did not go to the tavern of the Worshipful Burgomaster Martin
Crigier nor to that of Lieutenant Litschoe, who entertained the English
Ambassador a few years later, nor yet to the popular tavern of Metje
Wessels; but was influenced, for some good reason, to go to the house of
Egbert Van Borsum, the Ferry Tavern on the Long Island side of the river.
Here the Captain and his thirteen friends sat down to a dinner for which
Van Borsum, if the record is correct, charged him three hundred and ten
florins, or at the rate of nine dollars per plate; and it appears that it
was worth the price, for although Beaulieu was sued by Van Borsum for the
bill, his defence was that he was to pay only one-half of the expense, the
other half to be paid by a few of the other guests. No complaint was made
that the amount charged was excessive. Annetje Van Borsum testified before
the Court that she made the arrangement and bargain with Beaulieu alone
and looked to him for payment. The Court took this view and gave a verdict
against Beaulieu for the full amount. Annetje Van Borsum must certainly
have been a fine cook, and the dinner must have been served with some
expensive accessories, of the nature of which we can hardly surmise. It
serves to show that New Amsterdam, even at this early period, was not
entirely devoid of expensive luxuries (for such must have been the case).
After the death of Egbert Van Borsum, his widow, Annetje, continued the
business for several years, she herself managing the tavern, and her son,
Hermanus, attending to the ferry. In her declining years she retired to
the city of New Amsterdam where she died at a green old age.
In 1655 Solomon Peterson La Chair, a gentleman of the legal profession,
made his appearance in New Amsterdam, and, as there was not a promising
prospect in that line of business, he rented the house of Teunis Kray, on
the Graft, and petitioned the Burgomasters and Schepens for permission to
keep it as a tavern, which could be managed by his wife in his absence on
legal business, and would be of great assistance to him in gaining a
livelihood. Permission was granted. He afterwards bought the house of
Kray, agreeing to pay for it in instalments; but as Kray had formerly sued
him for the rent he had now to sue him for the very first instalment; and
he never succeeded in paying for it, the money, even when he had it ready,
as he says, slipping through his fingers. He did not pay anyone he owed
until forced to. He used every means which his learning in the law and his
own ingenuity could devise to avoid paying his just debts. He was
impecunious and improvident and constantly in trouble; yet he was a man of
considerable learning and ability, as evinced by his register of business
as a notary, a volume of some three hundred pages, which was discovered in
the county clerk's office some years ago. He obtained a license to
practice as a notary in 1661. La Chair, defaulting in payment, Kray came
again in possession of the house he had sold, and La Chair moved to a
house in Hough Street, where he continued to keep a tavern until his
death, a few years later. There was much discussion in the little town on
political matters, and La Chair, as a man versed in the law, could
probably attract many to his house, where, no doubt, such subjects were
thoroughly discussed.
November 26, 1656, a petition was presented to the Burgomasters and
Schepens from Metje Wessels, requesting permission "to follow the trade of
an eating house and to bring in and tap out wine and beer," which was
granted.
[Sidenote: Metje Wessels' Tavern]