Block, Washington Street, formerly Marlborough Street. Nathaniel Bishop
kept it in 1673. After stages begun running into the country, this house,
then kept by Zadock Pomeroy, was a regular starting-place for the Concord,
Groton, and Leominster stages. It was succeeded by the =Washington
Coffee-House=. The =Indian Queen=, in Bromfield Street, was another noted
stage-house, though not of so early date. Isaac Trask, Nabby, his widow,
Simeon Boyden, and Preston Shepard kept it. The =Bromfield House=
succeeded it, on the Methodist Book Concern site.
[Illustration:
_Daniel Jones of Boston_,
Hereby informs his Customers and others that he has
Opened a TAVERN in Newbury-Street,
at the Sign of the HAT and HELMET, which is less
than a Quarter of a Mile South of the Town-House:
Where Gentlemen Travellers and others will be kind-
ly entertained, and good Care taken of their Horses.
He hath Accommodation for private and Fire-
Clubs, and will engage to furnish with good Liquors
and Attendance: Coffee to be had when called for, &c.
The House to be supplied with the News-Papers for
the Amusement of his Customers.
N. B. Knapp'd and plain Bever and Beveret Hats,
in the newest Taste, made and sold by said JONES.
BOSTON NEWS-LETTER, FEB. 15, 1770]
[Illustration:
_STAGES._
The public are informed, that the Of-
fice of the New-York Mail, and Old Line Stages, is re-
oved from State-street, to Najor KING'S tavern near the
Market, which they will leave at 8 o'clock, A. M. every
day (Sundays excepted). Also, Albany Stage Office is kept
at the same place. The Stage will leave it every Monday
and Thursday at 8 o'clock, A M.
The apartment in State-Street, lately occupied for the
above purpose, is to be let. Apply to Major KING.
December 11
COLUMBIAN CENTINEL. DEC. 11, 1799]
[Illustration:
_New-York_ and _Providence Mail_
STAGES,
Leave Major Hatches, Royal Ex-
change Coffee House, in State-Street, every morning
at 8 o'clock, arrive at Providence at 6 the same day; leave
Providence at 4 o'clock, for New-York, Tuesdays, Thurs-
days and Saturdays. Stage Book kept at the bar for the en-
trance of the names. Expresses forwarded to any part of the
continent at the shortest notice, on reasonable terms; horses
kept ready for that purpose only. All favors gratefully ac-
knowledged by the Public's most humble servant.
_Jan 1._ STEPHEN FULLER, jun.
COLUMBIAN CENTINEL, JAN. 1, 1800]
[Illustration: JULIEN HOUSE.]
=Julien's Restorator=, corner of Congress and Milk streets. One of the
most ancient buildings in Boston, when taken down in 1824, it having
escaped the great fire of 1759. It stood in a grass-plot, fenced in from
the street. It was a private dwelling until 1794. Then Jean Baptiste
Julien opened in it the first public eating-house to be established in
Boston, with the distinctive title of "Restorator,"--a crude attempt to
turn the French word _restaurant_ into English. Before this time such
places had always been called cook-shops. Julien was a Frenchman, who,
like many of his countrymen, took refuge in America during the Reign of
Terror. His soups soon became famous among the gourmands of the town,
while the novelty of his _cuisine_ attracted custom. He was familiarly
nicknamed the "Prince of Soups." At Julien's death, in 1805, his widow
succeeded him in the business, she carrying it on successfully for ten
years. The following lines were addressed to her successor, Frederick
Rouillard:
JULIEN'S RESTORATOR.
I knew by the glow that so rosily shone
Upon Frederick's cheeks, that he lived on good cheer;
And I said, "If there's steaks to be had in the town,
The man who loves venison should look for them here."
'Twas two; and the dinners were smoking around,
The cits hastened home at the savory smell,
And so still was the street that I heard not a sound
But the barkeeper ringing the _Coffee-House_ bell.
"And here in the cosy _Old Club_,"[4] I exclaimed,
"With a steak that was tender, and Frederick's best wine,
While under my platter a spirit-blaze flamed,
How long could I sit, and how well could I dine!
"By the side of my venison a tumbler of beer
Or a bottle of sherry how pleasant to see,
And to know that I dined on the best of the deer,
That never was _dearer_ to any than me!"
=King's Head=, by Scarlet's Wharf (northwest corner Fleet and North
streets); burnt 1691, and rebuilt. Fleet Street was formerly Scarlet's
Wharf Lane. Kept by James Davenport, 1755, and probably, also, by his
widow. "A maiden _dwarf_, fifty-two years old," and only twenty-two inches
high, was "to be seen at Widow Bignall's," next door to the =King's Head=,
in August, 1771. The old _King's Head_, in Chancery Lane, London, was the
rendezvous of Titus Oates' party. Cowley the poet was born in it.
=Lamb.= The sign is mentioned as early as 1746. Colonel Doty kept it in
1760. The first stage-coach to Providence put up at this house. The Adams
House is on the same site, named for Laban Adams, who had kept the _Lamb_.
=Lion=, formerly =Grand Turk=. In Newbury, now Washington, Street. (See
_Landmarks of Boston_.) Kept by Israel Hatch in 1789.
=Light-House and Anchor=, at the North End, in 1763. Robert Whatley then
kept it. A Light-house tavern is noted in King Street, opposite the
Town-House, 1718.
=Orange Tree=, head of Hanover Street, 1708. Jonathan Wardwell kept it in
1712; Mrs. Wardwell in 1724; still a tavern in 1785. Wardwell set up here
the first hackney-coach stand in Boston.
=Philadelphia=, or =North End Coffee-House=, opposite the head of
Hancock's Wharf. Kept by David Porter, father of the old Commodore and
grandfather of the present Admiral. "Lodges, clubs, societies, etc., may
be provided with dinners and suppers,--small and retired rooms for small
company,--oyster suppers in the nicest manner." Formerly kept by Bennet.
Occupied, 1789, by Robert Wyre, distiller.
=Punch Bowl=, Dock Square, kept by Mrs. Baker, 1789.
=Queen's Head.= In 1732 Joshua Pierce, innholder, is allowed to remove his
license from the sign of the =Logwood Tree=, in Lynn Street, to the
_Queen's Head_, near Scarlet's Wharf, where Anthony Young last dwelt.
=Roebuck=, north side of Town Dock (North Market Street). A house of bad
repute, in which Henry Phillips killed Gaspard Dennegri, and was hanged
for it in 1817. Roebuck passage, the alley-way through to Ann Street,
took its name from the tavern. It is now included in the extension
northward of Merchants' Row.
=Rose and Crown=, near the fortification at Boston Neck. To be let January
25, 1728: "enquire of Gillam Phillips." This may be the house represented
on Bonner's map of 1722.
=Red Lion=, North Street, corner of Richmond. Noticed as early as 1654 and
as late as 1766. John Buchanan, baker, kept near it in 1712.
=Royal Exchange=, State Street, corner Exchange. An antique two-story
brick building. Noticed under this name, 1711, then kept by Benjamin
Johns; in 1727, and also, in 1747, by Luke Vardy. Stone kept it in 1768.
Mrs. Mary Clapham boarded many British officers, and had several pretty
daughters, one of whom eloped with an officer. The site of the Boston
Massacre has been marked by a bronze tablet placed on the wall of the
Merchants' Bank, opposite a wheel-line arrangement of the paving, denoting
where the first blood of the Revolution was shed. It was the custom to
exhibit transparencies on every anniversary of the Massacre from the front
of this house. The first stage-coach ever run on the road from Boston to
New York was started September 7, 1772, by Nicholas Brown, from this
house, "to go once in every fourteen days." Israel Hatch kept it in 1800,
as a regular stopping-place for the Providence stages, of which he was
proprietor; but upon the completion of the turnpike he removed to
Attleborough.
=Salutation=, North Street, corner Salutation. See p. 45. Noticed in 1708;
Samuel Green kept it in 1731; William Campbell, who died suddenly in a
fit, January 18, 1773.
=Seven Stars=, in Summer Street, gave the name of Seven Star Lane to that
street. Said to have stood on part of the old Trinity Church lot. "Near
the Haymarket" 1771, then kept by Jonathan Patten.
[Illustration: THE SUN TAVERN (Dock Square)]
=Shakespeare=, Water Street, second house below Devonshire; kept by Mrs.
Baker.
=Ship=, corner Clark and North streets; kept by John Vyall, 1666-67;
frequently called Noah's Ark.
=Ship in Distress=, vicinity of North Square.
=Star=, in Hanover Street, corner Link Alley, 1704. Link Alley was the
name given to that part of Union Street west of Hanover. Stephen North
kept it in 1712-14. It belonged to Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton.
=State's Arms=, also =King's Arms=. Colonel Henry Shrimpton bequeathed it
to his daughter Sarah, 1666. Hugh Gunnison sold it to Shrimpton in 1651,
the tavern being then the =King's Arms=.
=Sun.= This seems to have been a favorite emblem, as there were several
houses of the name. The _Sun_ in Batterymarch Street was the residence of
Benjamin Hallowell, a loyalist, before it became a tavern. The estate was
confiscated. General Henry Dearborn occupied it at one time. The sign bore
a gilded sun, with rays, with this inscription:
"The best Ale and Porter
Under the Sun."
Upon the conversion of the inn into a store the sign of the sun was
transferred to a house in _Moon_ Street. The =Sun= in Dock Square, corner
of Corn Court, was earlier, going back to 1724, kept by Samuel Mears, who
was "lately deceased" in 1727. It was finally turned into a grocery store,
kept first by George Murdock, and then by his successor, Wellington. A
third house of this name was in Cornhill (Washington Street), in 1755.
Captain James Day kept it. There was still another =Sun=, near Boston
Stone, kept by Joseph Jackson in 1785.
=Swan=, in Fish, now North Street, "by Scarlett's Wharf," 1708. There was
another at the South End, "nearly opposite Arnold Welles'," in 1784.
=Three Horse-Shoes=, "in the street leading up to the Common," probably
Tremont Street. Kept by Mrs. Glover, who died about 1744. William Clears
kept it in 1775.
=White Horse=, a few rods south of the _Lamb_. It had a white horse
painted on the signboard. Kept by Joseph Morton, 1760, who was still
landlord in 1772. Israel Hatch, the ubiquitous, took it in 1787, on his
arrival from Attleborough. His announcement is unique. (See _Landmarks of
Boston_, pp. 392, 393.)
[Illustration:
Jolley Allen,
Advertises all his good old Friends,
Customers and others,
That he has again opened Shop, opposite to the
Three Doves in Marlborough-Street, Boston:
And has for Sale, at the lowest Prices, the fol-
lowing Articles;
Muscovado Sugars of various Sorts
and Prices, single, middle and double refined
English Loaf Sugars, lately imported, Pepper,
Bohea Tea, Coffee, Spices of all Sorts, Indigo,
Raisins, Currants, Starch, Ginger, Copperas,
Allum, Pipes of all Sorts, best Durham Flour
of Mustard, and most other Kinds of Groceries
too many to enumerate, which he will sell from
the largest to the smallest Quantities.--Likewise
a very large and compleat Assortment of Liver-
pool and Staffordshire Ware, which he will
engage to sell by the Crate, or single Piece, as
low as any Store in Town.--Playing Cards,
Wool Cards, Seive Bottoms, a few Pieces of
Oznabrigs and Ticklenburgs, N{o}.4 and N{o}.12.
Pins, a few Pieces of Sooses, Damasks, Sterrets,
Loretto's, Burdetts, Brunswicks, Mozeens,
for Summer Waistcoats, &c. &c. &c.
Also, at said Allen's may be had, genteel
Boarding and Lodging for six or eight Persons
if should be wanted, for a longer or shorter Season,
likewise good Stabling for ten Horses and Car-
riages.
N. B. If any Person inclines to hire the above
Stable, and Place for Carriages, they may have
a Lease of the same for 19 Years or less Time
from the said Allen, and if wanted, on the same
Premises can be spared, Room for forty or fifty
Horses and Carriages: It is as good a Place for
Horse and Chaise Letting as any in Boston.
BOSTON NEWS-LETTER, MAY 27, 1773]
COLE'S INN
THE BAKERS' ARMS
THE GOLDEN BALL TAVERN
BY WALTER K. WATKINS
AND
THE HANCOCK TAVERN
BY E. W. McGLENEN
VI.
SAMUEL COLE'S INN.
Samuel Cole came to Boston in the fleet with Governor Winthrop, and he
with his wife Ann were the fortieth and forty-first on the list of
original members of the First Church. He requested to become a freeman
October 19, 1630, and was sworn May 18, 1631. He was the ninth to sign the
roll of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1637 and in the
same year was disarmed for his religious views. In 1636 he contributed to
the maintenance of a free school and in 1656 to the building of the town
house. In 1652 he was one of those chosen to receive monies for Harvard
College. In 1634 he opened the first ordinary, or inn. It was situated on
Washington Street, nearly opposite the head of Water Street. Here, in
1636, Sir Henry Vane, the governor, entertained Miantonomo and two of
Canonicus's sons, with other chiefs. While the four sachems dined at the
Governor's house, which stood near the entrance to Pemberton Square, the
chiefs, some twenty in all, dined at _Cole's Inn_. At this time a treaty
of peace was concluded here between the English and the Narragansetts.
In 1637, in the month of June, there sailed into Boston Harbor the ship
_Hector_, from London, with the Rev. John Davenport and two London
merchants, Theophilus Eaton and Edward Hopkins, his son-in-law, two future
governors of Connecticut. On the same vessel was a young man, a ward of
King Charles I., James, Lord Ley, a son of the Earl of Marlborough (who
had just died). He was also to hold high positions in the future and
attain fame as a mathematician and navigator.
The Earl of Marlborough, while in Boston, was at _Cole's Inn_, and while
he was here was of sober carriage and observant of the country which he
came to view. He consorted frequently with Sir Henry Vane, visiting with
him Maverick, at Noddle's Island, and returning to England with Vane in
August, 1637.
His estate in England was a small one in Teffont Evias, or Ewyas, Wilts,
near Hinton Station, and in the church there may still be seen the tombs
of the Leys. He also had a reversion to lands in Heywood, Wilts.
In 1649 he compounded with Parliament for his lands and giving bond was
allowed to depart from England to the plantations in America.
On the restoration of Charles II. in 1661, the Earl returned to England
and in the next year was assisted by the King to fit out an expedition to
the West Indies. In 1665 he commanded "that huge ship," the _Old James_,
and in the great victorious sea fight of June 3 with the Dutch was slain,
with Rear Admiral Sansum, Lords Portland, Muskerry, and others.
He died without issue and the title went to his uncle, in whom the title
became extinct, to be revived later in the more celebrated Duke, of the
Churchill family.
It was shortly after the Earl's departure that Cole was disarmed for his
sympathy for his neighbor on the south, Mrs. Ann Hutchinson, and he was
also fined at the same time for disorders at his house. In the following
spring he was given permission to sell his house, to which he had just
built an addition, and he disposed of it to Capt. Robert Sedgwick in
February, 1638.
Cole then removed to a house erroneously noted by some as the first inn,
situated next his son-in-law, Edmund Grosse, near the shore on North
Street. This he sold in 1645 to George Halsall and bought other land of
Valentine Hill.
[Illustration: THE BAKERS' ARMS]
VII.
THE BAKERS' ARMS.
PREDECESSOR OF THE GREEN DRAGON.
Thomas Hawkins, biscuit baker, and a brother of James Hawkins, bricklayer,
was born in England in 1608. He was a proprietor in Boston in 1636; his
wife Hannah was admitted to the church there in 1641, and that year his
son Abraham, born in 1637, was baptized. His home lot was on the west side
of Washington Street, the second north of Court Street. He also had one
quarter of an acre near the Mill Cove, and a house bought in 1645 from
John Trotman.
In 1662 James Johnson, glover, sold three quarters of an acre of marsh and
upland, bounded on the north and east by the Mill Cove, to Hawkins. The
latter was living by the Mill Cove by this time in a house built in 1649,
and beside keeping his bake house he kept a cook shop, and also
entertained with refreshments his customers by serving beer. A mortgage of
the property, in 1663, to Simon Lynde discloses, besides the dwelling and
bake house, a stable, brew house, outhouses, and three garden plots on the
upland. In 1667 Hawkins was furnished £200 by the Rev. Thomas Thacher to
cancel this mortgage. The property extended from the Mill Pond to Hanover
Street, and was bounded north by Union Street, and was 280 feet by 104
feet--about two thirds of an acre in area.
Thacher had married Margaret, widow of Jacob Sheafe and daughter of Henry
Webb, a wealthy merchant. Mrs. Sheafe had a daughter, Mehitabel, who
married her cousin, Sampson Sheafe. Mr. Thacher assigned the mortgage to
Sampson Sheafe, and on 31 October, 1670, the time of payment having
expired, Sheafe obtained judgment for possession of the property, which
had become known as the "Bakers' Arms," which Hawkins had kept since 1665
as a house of entertainment.
Hawkins had married a second wife, and in January, 1671, Rebecca Hawkins
deeded her rights in the property to Sheafe. 15 May, 1672, Hawkins
petitioned the General Court, and complained that he had been turned out
of doors and his household property seized by Sheafe; that his houses and
land were worth £800, and that Sheafe had only advanced £175. He asked for
an appraisement, and the prayer of the petitioner was allowed.
In 1673 Hawkins sued Sheafe in the County Court for selling some brewing
utensils, a pump, sign, ladder, cooler and mash fat (wooden vessel
containing eight bushels) taken from the brew house. He also objected to
items in Sheafe's account against him, such as "Goodman Drury's shingling
the house and Goodman Cooper whitening it." At this time we find two
dwelling houses on the lot. The easterly house Sheafe sold in May, 1673,
to John Howlet, and this became known as the Star Tavern.
On 10 April, 1673, Sampson Sheafe sold to William Stoughton the west
portion of the Hawkins property.
In 1678 Mrs. Hawkins petitioned the General Court in the matter, and also
the town to sell wine and strong water, on account of the weak condition
of her husband and his necessity. 11 June, 1680, the General Court allowed
her eleven pounds in clear of all claims and incumbrances. Hawkins having
died, she had married, 4 June, 1680, John Stebbins, a baker. Stebbins died
4 December, 1681, aged 70, and the widow Rebecca Stebbins was licensed as
an innkeeper in 1690.
In 1699 the widow Stebbins, then 77 years old, testified as to her husband
Thomas Hawkins having the south-east corner or sea end of half a warehouse
at the Draw Bridge foot, which he purchased from Joshua Scotto and which
Hawkins sold in 1657 to Edward Tyng. That Hawkins had used it for the
landing and housing of corn for his trade as a baker. That he had bought
the sea end for the convenience of vessels to land. It is probable the
portion sold to Stoughton had but a frontage of two hundred and four feet
on Union Street. Sheafe had torn down part of the building and made
repairs, and had as tenant of the "Bakers' Arms" Nicholas Wilmot. Wilmot
came to Boston about 1650. In 1674 he was allowed by the town to sell beer
and give entertainment, and in 1682 he was licensed as an innholder.
By his wife Mary he had Elizabeth, who married (1) Caleb Rawlins, an
innkeeper, who died in 1693, and (2) Richard Newland; Abigail, who married
Abraham Adams, an innkeeper; Hannah, who married Nathaniel Adams of
Charlestown, blockmaker; Mary, who married John Alger; and Ann, the
youngest, who married Joseph Allen. There were also two sons, Samuel and
John Wilmot. Nicholas Wilmot died in 1684, and his widow in a very short
time married Abraham Smith, to assist in carrying on the tavern.
The tavern, even at this time, was of some size, and additions had perhaps
been built by Stoughton. The rooms were designated by names, as in the
taverns of Old England. In the chamber called the "Cross Keys" met the
Scots Charitable Society, a benefit society for the residents of Scottish
birth and sojourners from Scotland, two of the officers keeping each a key
of the money box. The most noted of the chambers was that of the "Green
Dragon," which at about this time gave the name of "Green Dragon" to the
tavern. There were also the "Anchor," the "Castle," the "Sun," and the
"Rose" chambers, which were also the names of other taverns in the town at
that period. One cold December night in 1690, just after midnight, a fire
occurred in the "Green Dragon," and it was burnt to the ground and very
little of its contents saved. Snow on the houses in the vicinity was the
means of preventing the spread of the flames, with the fact that there was
no wind at the time. Within a year or two the tavern was rebuilt by
Stoughton and again occupied by Abraham Smith, who died in 1696, leaving
an estate of £273: 19: 5. His widow, Mary Smith, died shortly after her
husband. In her will she freed her negro women Sue and Maria, and the
deeds of manumission are recorded in the Suffolk Deeds.
VIII.
THE GOLDEN BALL TAVERN.
In the manuscript collections of the Bostonian Society is a plan showing
the earliest owners of the land bordering on the Corn Market. On the site
now the south corner of Faneuil Hall Square and Merchants' Row is noted
the possession of Edward Tyng. Another manuscript of the Society, equally
unique, is an apprentice indenture of Robert Orchard in 1662. In the
account of Orchard, printed in the _Publications of the Society_, Vol. IV,
is given the continued history of Tyng's land after it came into the
possession of Theodore Atkinson. In the history of the sign of the _Golden
Ball Tavern_ we continue the story of the same plot of land.
Originally owned by Edward Tyng, and later by Theodore Atkinson, and then
by the purchase of the property by Henry Deering, who married the widow of
Atkinson's son Theodore. All this was told in the Orchard article.
It was about 1700 that Henry Deering erected on his land on the north side
of a passage leading from Merchants' Row, on its west side, a building
which was soon occupied as a tavern. Samuel Tyley, who had kept the _Star_
in 1699, the _Green Dragon_ in 1701, and later the _Salutation_ at the
North End, left this last tavern in 1711 to take Mr. Deering's house in
Merchants' Row, the _Golden Ball_.
[Illustration: SIGN OF THE BUNCH OF GRAPES
Now in the Masonic Temple]
[Illustration: SIGN OF THE GOLDEN BALL
Now in the possession of the Bostonian Society]
Henry Deering died in 1717, and was buried with his wife on the same day.
He had been a man greatly interested in public affairs. In 1707 he had
proposed the erection of a building for the custody of the town's records;
at the same time he proposed a wharf at the foot of the street, now State
Street, then extending only as far as Merchants' Row. This was soon built
as "Boston Pier" or "Long Wharf." He also presented a memorial for the
"Preventing Disolation by Fire" in the town.
In the division of Deering's estate in 1720 the dwelling house in the
occupation of Samuel Tyley, known by the name of the _Golden Ball_, with
privilege in the passage on the south and in the well, was given his
daughter Mary, the wife of William Wilson. Mrs. Wilson, in her will drawn
up in 1729, then a widow, devised the house to her namesake and niece,
Mary, daughter of her brother, Capt. Henry Deering. At the time of Mrs.
Wilson's death in 1753 her niece was the wife of John Gooch, whom she
married in 1736. Samuel Tyley died in 1722, while still the landlord of
the _Golden Ball_.
The next landlord of whom we have knowledge was William Patten, who had
taken the _Green Dragon_ in 1714. In 1733 he was host at the _Golden
Ball_, where he stayed till 1736, when he took the inn on West Street,
opposite the schoolhouse, and next to the estate later known as the
_Washington Gardens_.