David Mahaney, whose name frequently appears in these pages, is a remarkable man. A boy when the National Road was made, he has lived on and near it all his life. His present residence is Dunbar, Fayette county, Pa., but he is a familiar figure on the streets of Uniontown. He is the father of Lloyd Mahaney, the well known enterprising owner and manager of the handsome new Mahaney house in Uniontown, and of George Mahaney, also a popular hotel man, who at one time kept the Dixon house in Greensburg, afterward a hotel in Pittsburg, and at the present time is conducting a house in Latrobe. David Mahaney was born in Washington county, Md., near Hagerstown, in 1807, and is therefore in his eighty-sixth year, while he has the appearance of a man not over sixty. His complexion is swarthy, step elastic, and his memory but slightly impaired by the inroads of time. His father was a native of Culpeper county, Va., who met with a melancholy death by drowning in the Potomac river, on the night of the presidential election of 1856. His polling place was eight miles from his residence, in Maryland, and to reach it and vote involved the crossing of the Potomac. It was late in the evening when he left the polls to return home, and upon reaching the river, by some untoward accident fell into the water and perished. David Mahaney's first venture in tavern keeping on his own account was at the old Shultz house in Grantsville. He was personally acquainted with Henry Clay, Thomas H. Benton, Lewis Cass, and others of the old time statesmen, and frequently entertained them. As early as 1836 Thomas Thistle kept a tavern at the foot of Negro Mountain, two miles west of Grantsville. With a name somewhat rasping in its import, Thistle had a smooth tongue, a mild manner, and furnished excellent entertainment for the traveling public. He was one of the oldest and best known tavern keepers on the road. His house was a long, frame wooden building, on the south side of the road, at times a stage station, and throughout its entire existence a wagon stand. Here the National Road crosses the line of the old Braddock road. In 1844 William Dehaven kept the old Thistle tavern, and later it was kept by Levi Dean. One and a half miles west from the old Thistle house, and on the eastern slope of Negro Mountain, the widow Haldeman kept a tavern as early as 1840, and like all the widows, had a large patronage. While conducting this house, Mrs. Haldeman became the wife of Daniel Smouse, who thereafter took charge of it. The house was a log building, on the south side of the road, and the spacious grounds surrounding it were crowded, night after night, with six-horse teams and big, broad wheeled wagons, covered with canvass, presenting the appearance of a military encampment. This old house was subsequently kept by George Smouse, and later by John Wright. The widow Recknor, of savory memory, before mentioned, died a boarder in this old tavern, much lamented.