Goodspeed Histories: July 2022
** July 17, 2022
——————————
Today I’ve published part of Egbert T. Bush’s article on Quakertown, specifically, the parts of his article about the taverns that used to be found in the village. This is part of my series on the taverns of Hunterdon County. I started in Flemington, took the road northwest to Klinesville, then continued on to Cherryville, and now have turned west to Quakertown. After this I will have to move further west to Pittstown.
Quakertown’s Taverns (https://goodspeedhistories.co
I was surprised to learn how long Quakertown had a functioning tavern, inasmuch as the religious sect that the village was named for had a very low opinion of alcohol or its retail. But no functioning village could get along without this institution during the 18th and most of the 19th century.
My great disappointment was not coming up with a photograph of the tavern. A visit to the Quakertown page on Wikipedia will show several lovely photographs of great old Quakertown houses (which I have included in the article), but none of the tavern. Here’s an example–the home of the Cliffton family, which was right around the corner from the tavern lot.
GH Articles
When I began this blog, back in 2009, I expected to produce an article once a week, and because the articles I published, either about the early years of the Province of West Jersey or of what became Delaware Township, my home town, were on subjects I had already done a lot of research on, that was no problem. But then I branched out into other parts of Hunterdon County, and found myself needing to do more research, so articles got published every two weeks.
Lately I have found it necessary to do more research and that takes more time. So articles are now getting published about once a month. If things really click into place, maybe twice a month, but that won’t happen often.
I like pursuing the subject of taverns, because it takes me to many of the early villages of Hunterdon County, places where people in outlying areas would come to get supplies at the stores, visit the post office, and, of course, stop in for a drink and some gossip. And frankly, I am fascinated by how the early villages were created and the locations where they were set up.
And just as fascinating are the earliest roads, roads that did not have names as we know them today, but were known by their endpoints– for example, “the road from Pittstown to Trenton.” That could have taken any number of routes, but the people of that time knew exactly what route was meant.
Last night’s rain was something to rejoice over. All my readers who also keep gardens will know just how I’m feeling this morning.
Best wishes,
Marfy