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
There was a little log house a short distance west of Charley Rush's old
stand, which was kept as a tavern for a few years by Edward Dean. It was
not one of the original taverns, and not considered "regular." The pike
boys of the neighborhood called it the "Sheep's Ear." Its chief business
consisted in selling whisky at three cents a drink, which was the price
of whisky all along the road. F. H. Oliphant, the well known iron
manufacturer, probably the oldest in the State, once put a line of
wagons on the road to carry goods and merchandise from Brownsville to
Cumberland. The wagons were drawn by mules, and the teams changed at
fixed points along the road. This old Dean House was one of the stopping
places of this line. One night some mischievous person, or persons, cut
the harness of one of the teams into shreds, so that Oliphant's line did
not move out the next morning from the "Sheep's Ear." Another house of
similar proportions and character near by, was kept by Thomas Dean. It
was known in the neighborhood as the "Bull's Head." It was the custom of
the pike boys of the neighborhood to collect together in these old
houses, when they were kept as taverns, now at one and then at the
other, to "while away" the long winter evenings, and enjoy themselves in
dancing and revelry. Nicholas McCartney often attended these festive
gatherings when a young man, and could relate many interesting incidents
and anecdotes connected with the "Sheep's Ear" and "Bull's Head" inns.
We next come to the old Inks House, now owned and occupied by Nicholas
McCartney. This is a large frame, weather-boarded house, with a spacious
wagon yard attached, a large stable and a number of sheds and other
outbuildings. The house was built by George Inks, and kept by him as a
tavern for many years. A man named Heckrote kept here once, and so also
did John Risler, and Samuel M. Clement, for many years a prosperous
farmer on Redstone creek, near Uniontown, entertained the traveling
public for a brief period, in his early manhood, and proved himself a
competent landlord. The house enjoyed a large share of patronage during
the prosperous times on the road. [O]Mr. McCartney, present occupant and
owner, has been in feeble health for many months. Previous to his
present illness he was a man of robust health and great energy. He is a
son-in-law of Thomas Brownfield, the old proprietor of the Mt. Augusta
House. He is universally esteemed among his neighbors, and general
sympathy is manifested on account of his illness.
[Footnote O: Now dead.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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