The Old Pike: A History of the National Road, with Incidents, Accidents, and Anecdotes ThereonSearight, Thomas B. (Thomas Brownfield)
History
The Old Pike: A History of the National Road, with Incidents, Accidents, and Anecdotes Thereon
Searight, Thomas B. (Thomas Brownfield)
Cumberland Road; Pennsylvania -- Biography
Four and a half miles west of Hagerstown, an old wagon stand was kept by
David Newcomer. It was a stone house, on the north side of the road.
Newcomer furnished good entertainment, and was well favored with
customers, mostly wagoners. He was a Quaker, and a money maker. He dealt
in horses, in addition to tavern keeping. When offering a horse for
sale, his wife was accustomed to say in the hearing of the person
proposing to buy: "Now, David, thee must not sell that favorite horse."
This, old wagoners say, was a "set-up job" between David and his spouse
to gain a good price. Newcomer was the owner of the property, and as the
house was of stone, is probably standing yet; but the ring of the old
pike has gone from it long since.
Three miles westward from Newcomer's was the imposing and
well-remembered tavern kept by John Miller. It was of brick, a large and
commodious building, situate on the north side of the road. Miller owned
the property, and it may be in the possession of his descendants to this
day. There were large rooms in this house, adapted to dancing purposes,
and young men and maidens of the vicinity frequently tripped to the
notes of the old time music in its spacious halls. The waltz was
unknown, and the figures varied from the "hoe down" to the cotillion,
closing always with the "Virginia Reel." The old wagoners were
invariably invited to participate in these festivities, and engaged in
them with a gusto not excelled by the lads and lasses of the surrounding
neighborhood. Alfred Bailes, the old pike boy of Dunbar, drove a line
team from John S. Miller's to the Nicodemus House, two miles west of
Hancock, as early as the year 1836, and is probably the only survivor of
the young folks who participated in the gayeties of Miller's old
tavern.
One mile west of Miller's is "Shady Bower." There a tavern was kept by
Conrod Wolsey. His house was well favored by wagoners, who sought his
generous board in goodly numbers, and while well liked by his customers,
he got the name of "Dirty Spigot," because the spigot of a whisky barrel
in his house was once besmeared with filth. There was a large distillery
near Wolsey's tavern, operated by Barnes Mason. Mason had two teams on
the road, driven by William Keefer and Joseph Myers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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