Goodspeed Histories: Baptistown Part 2
My last post was a republication of Egbert T. Bush’s article: “Baptistown One of Hunterdon’s Oldest Villages.” Part of that history concerned the Baptistown tavern. I was so taken with its history that I began to look for more information on its owners. In the process I learned that one must not only find the owners, but also the tavern keepers, who were often, in fact usually, separate people.
Baptistown, Part Two (https://goodspeedhistories.co
I was amazed to find the tavern is still standing, in the heart of Baptistown. It’s a nice old house, but doesn’t quite measure up to its description in 1846 as “large and commodious.” It appears our ideas of commodious have changed since then.
One thing I laid some stress on my article was the wealth of information that is hiding in the County Clerk’s Office, and that is the tavern licenses that were recorded in the Minute Books of the Court of Common Pleas. I have been collecting those lists and trying to identify where the various taverns were located—a long-term project if ever there was one!
Coming Up:
How People Healed Themselves in the Past
Given the dire warnings about the new virus that have been broadcast far and wide, this seems entirely appropriate. At the Spring Meeting of the Hunterdon County Historical Society, the speaker will be Dr. Gary Grover, a cardiovascular pharmacologist. Dr. Grover has made of study of the kind of medicine doled out to the ill in the 17th and 18th centuries. If you are easily disgusted or among the faint of heart, you might want to pass this up. On the other hand, it will certainly give us some comfort to know about “medicines” that we no longer have to take (like pepper and ground glass). The meeting will take place on Sunday, March 15, at 2 p.m. at the Flemington Presbyterian Church, 10 East Main Street, Flemington.
To learn more about Dr. Grover’s talk on the History of Medicine in Early NJ, visit the website of the HCHS.
Best wishes,
Marfy