Old Taverns of New York

The Common was a place where outdoor games were played in the daytime and bonfires built at night on festive occasions. On Monday, April 29, 1751, a great match at cricket was played here for a considerable wager by eleven Londoners against eleven New Yorkers. The newspaper account states that “The Game was play’d according to the London Method; and those who got most Notches in two Hands, to be the Winners: – The New Yorkers went in first and got 81; Then the Londoners went in and got but 43; Then the New Yorkers went in again and got 86; and the Londoners finished the Game with getting only 37 more.”

The game of bowls seems to have been quite popular in the early part of the eighteenth century. It was played upon a smooth, level piece of turf from forty to sixty feet square, surrounded by a ditch about six inches deep. At the further end of the ground was placed a white ball called the jack and the bowlers endeavored, with balls from six to eight inches in diameter that were not exactly round but weighted on one side so as to roll in a curve, to make their balls lie as near to the jack as possible.

Back-gammon was an evening game at the taverns and at the coffee-house. In 1734 a partisan of the governor’s party, under the nom de plume of Peter Scheme wrote in reply to an article in Zenger’s Journal: “I also frequent the Coffee House, to take a hitt at Back-Gammon, when I have an opportunity of hearing the curious sentiments of the Courtiers (since he is pleased to call the Gentlemen who frequent that place so) concerning his Journal.” It is apparent that the popularity of the game continued for many years, for Alexander Mackraby, in a letter dated June 13, 1768, says: “They have a vile practice here, which is peculiar to the city: I mean that of playing at back-gammon (a noise I detest), which is going forward at the public coffee-houses from morning till night, frequently a dozen tables at a time.”

Horse-Racing

From the very beginning of English rule in New York, horse-racing seems to have been a fashionable sport among people of means. It has been stated how Governor Nicolls established a race-course on Hempstead Plains, and since that time interest in the sport had been kept up, increasing as the population and wealth of the city increased. Races were held yearly on the Hempstead course and it is more than likely that a course was soon established on Manhattan Island. In 1733 we find an announcement in a New York newspaper that a race would be run on the 8th of October on the course at New York for a purse of upwards of four pounds by any horse, mare or gelding carrying twelve stone and paying five shillings entrance, the entrance money to go to the second horse if not distanced. There is no mention made of the location of the course, but a notice that horses that have won plate here are excepted indicates that it was probably a yearly event. Three years later we find that a subscription plate of twenty pounds’ value was to be run for on the course at New York on the 13th of October “by any horse, mare or gelding carrying ten stone (saddle and bridle included), the best of three heats, two miles each heat. Horses intended to Run for this Plate are to be entered the Day before the Race with Francis Child on Fresh Water Hill, paying a half Pistole each, or at the Post on the Day of Running, paying a Pistole.” This course on Fresh Water Hill had probably been established for some time and its location was very likely near the present Chatham Square. In 1742 there was a race-course on the Church Farm in charge of Adam Vandenberg, the lessee of the farm, who was landlord of the Drovers’ Tavern, which stood on or near the site of the present Astor House.

In seeking information from the newspapers of the day in regard to horse-racing, we find very little, if any, in the news columns; but more is to be found among the advertisements. Thus, in January, 1743-4, it is announced that a race would be run on the first day of March “between a Mare called Ragged Kate, belonging to Mr. Peter De Lancey, and a Horse called Monk, belonging to the Hon. William Montagu, Esq., for £200.” It is not stated where this race was to take place, but, in all probability, it was run either on the Fresh Water Hill course or on the Church Farm. It was for an unusually large wager, and, no doubt, attracted a great deal of attention. From about this date we hear no more of the race-course on Fresh Water Hill. It may have been disturbed by the line of palisades which was built across the island during the war with France, crossing the hill between the present Duane and Pearl Streets, at which point was a large gateway.

In September, 1747, it was announced in the newspapers that a purse of not less than ten pistoles would be run for on the Church Farm on the 11th of October, two mile heats, horses that had won plate on the island and a horse called Parrot excepted, the entrance money to be run for by any of the horses entered, except the winner and those distanced. We have every reason to suppose that the races were at this period a yearly event on the Church Farm, taking place in October. In 1750 it was announced in the New York Gazette in August and September that “on the Eleventh of October next, the New York Subscription Plate of Twenty Pounds’ Value, will be Run for by any Horse, Mare or Gelding that never won a Plate before on this Island, carrying Ten Stone Weight, Saddle and Bridle included, the best in three Heats, two miles in each Heat,” etc. A few days after the race the New York Gazette announced that on “Thursday last the New York Subscription Plate was run for at the Church Farm by five Horses and won by a horse belonging to Mr. Lewis Morris, Jun.”

The next year similar announcements were made of the race, the difference being that the horses eligible must have been bred in America and that they should carry eight stone weight. The date is the same as that of the previous year, October 11. We find no record of this race in the newspapers, but the illustration which is given of the trophy won is sufficient to indicate the result. Lewis Morris, Jr., appears to have carried off the prize a second time. The plate was a silver bowl ten inches in diameter and four and one-half inches high, and the winner was a horse called Old Tenor. The bowl, represented in the cut, is in the possession of Dr. Lewis Morris, U. S. N., a lineal descendant of Lewis Morris, the signer of the Declaration of Independence and the owner of Old Tenor. The name of the horse was doubtless suggested by certain bills of credit then in circulation in New York. In an advertisement of two dwelling houses on the Church Farm for sale in April, 1755, notice is given that “Old Tenor will be taken in payment.”

The great course was on Hempstead Plains. On Friday, June 1, 1750, there was a great race here for a considerable wager, which attracted such attention that on Thursday, the day before the race, upward of seventy chairs and chaises were carried over the Long Island Ferry, besides a far greater number of horses, on their way out, and it is stated that the number of horses on the plains at the race far exceeded a thousand.

In 1753 we find that the subscription plate, which had become a regular event, was run for at Greenwich, on the estate of Sir Peter Warren. Land about this time was being taken up on the Church Farm for building purposes, and this may have been the reason for the change. In 1754 there was a course on the Church Farm in the neighborhood of the present Warren Street. An account of a trial of speed and endurance was given on April 29, 1754. “Tuesday morning last, a considerable sum was depending between a number of gentlemen in this city on a horse starting from one of the gates of the city to go to Kingsbridge and back again, being fourteen miles (each way) in two hours’ time; which he performed with one rider in 1 hr. and 46 min.” The owner of this horse was Oliver De Lancey, one of the most enthusiastic sportsmen of that period. Members of the families of DeLancey and Morris were the most prominent owners of race horses. Other owners and breeders were General Monckton, Anthony Rutgers, Michael Kearney, Lord Sterling, Timothy Cornell and Roper Dawson. General Monckton, who lived for a time at the country seat called “Richmond,” owned a fine horse called Smoaker, with which John Leary, one of the best known horsemen of the day, won a silver bowl, which he refused to surrender to John Watts, the general’s friend, even under threat of legal process. Several years later he was still holding it.

In January, 1763, A. W. Waters, of Long Island, issued a challenge to all America. He says: “Since English Horses have been imported into New York, it is the Opinion of some People that they can outrun The True Britton,” and he offered to race the latter against any horse that could be produced in America for three hundred pounds or more. This challenge does not seem to have been taken up until 1765, when the most celebrated race of the period was run on the Philadelphia course for stakes of one thousand pounds. Samuel Galloway, of Maryland, with his horse, Selim, carried off the honors and the purse.

Besides the course on Hempstead Plains, well known through all the colonies as well as in England, there was another on Long Island, around Beaver Pond, near Jamaica. A subscription plate was run for on this course in 1757, which was won by American Childers, belonging to Lewis Morris, Jr. There were also courses at Paulus Hook, Perth Amboy, Elizabethtown and Morristown, New Jersey, which were all thronged by the sporting gentry of New York City. James De Lancey, with his imported horse, Lath, in October, 1769, won the one hundred pound race on the Centre course at Philadelphia. The Stamp Act Congress of 1765 brought together in New York men interested in horse-racing who had never met before, and in the few years intervening before the Revolution there sprang up a great rivalry between the northern and southern colonies.

Bull Baiting

The men of New York enjoyed rugged and cruel sports such as would not be tolerated at the present time. Among these were bear-baiting and bull-baiting. Bear-baiting became rare as the animals disappeared from the neighborhood and became scarce. Bulls were baited on Bayard’s Hill and on the Bowery. A bull was baited in 1763 at the tavern in the Bowery Lane known as the sign of the De Lancey Arms. John Cornell, near St. George’s Ferry, Long Island, gave notice in 1774 that there would be a bull baited on Tower Hill at three o’clock every Thursday afternoon during the season.

Bowling

The taverns in the suburbs could, in many cases, have large grounds attached to the houses and they took advantage of this to make them attractive. From the very earliest period of the city there were places near by which were resorted to for pleasure and recreation. One of the earliest of these was the Cherry Garden. It was situated on the highest part of the road which led to the north – a continuation of the road which led to the ferry in the time of the Dutch – at the present junction of Pearl and Cherry Streets, and was originally the property of Egbert Van Borsum, the ferryman of New Amsterdam, who gave the sea captains such a magnificent dinner. In 1672 the seven acres of this property were purchased by Captain Delaval for the sum of one hundred and sixty-one guilders in beavers, and, after passing through several hands, became the property of Richard Sacket, who had settled in the neighborhood, and established himself as a maltster. On the land had been planted an orchard of cherry trees, which, after attaining moderate dimensions, attracted great attention. To turn this to account, a house of entertainment was erected and the place was turned into a pleasure resort known as the Cherry Garden. There were tables and seats under the trees, and a bowling green and other means of diversion attached to the premises. It had seen its best days before the end of the seventeenth century.

On the borders of the Common, now the City Hall Park, was the Vineyard, which is said to have been a popular place of recreation and near the junction of what are now Greenwich and Warren Streets was the Bowling Green Garden, established there soon after the opening of the eighteenth century. It was on a part of the Church Farm, quite out of town, for there were no streets then laid out above Crown, now Liberty Street, on the west side of the town and none above Frankfort on the east. In 1735 the house of the Bowling Green Garden was occupied by John Miller, who was offering garden seeds of several sorts for sale. On March 29, 1738, it took fire and in a few minutes was completely consumed, Miller, who was then living in it, saving himself with difficulty. A new house was erected and the place continued to attract visitors. There does not appear to have been any public road leading to it, but it was not a long walk or ride from the town and was finely situated on a hill near the river. In November, 1759, when it was occupied by John Marshall, the militia company of grenadiers met here to celebrate the king’s birthday, when they roasted an ox and ate and drank loyally. Marshall solicited the patronage of ladies and gentlemen and proposed to open his house for breakfasting every morning during the season. He describes it as “handsomely situated on the North River at the place known by the name of the Old Bowling Green but now called Mount Pleasant.” Some years later it became known as Vauxhall.

Bowling must have had some attraction for the people of New York, for in March, 1732-3, the corporation resolved to “lease a piece of land lying at the lower end of Broadway fronting the Fort to some of the inhabitants of the said Broadway in Order to be Inclosed to make a Bowling Green thereof, with Walks therein, for the Beauty & Ornament of the Said Street, as well as for the Recreation and Delight of the Inhabitants of this City.” In October, 1734, it was accordingly leased to Frederick Phillipse, John Chambers and John Roosevelt for ten years, for a bowling-green only, at the yearly rental of one pepper-corn. In 1742 the lease was renewed for eleven years; to commence from the expiration of the first lease, at a rental of twenty shillings per annum. In January, 1745, proposals were requested for laying it with turf and rendering it fit for bowling, which shows that it was then being used for that purpose. It was known as the New or Royal Bowlling Green and the one on the Church Farm as the Old Bowling Green.

The Glass House

Some time about 1754, an attempt was made in New York to make glass bottles and other glass ware. Thomas Leppers, who had been a tavern-keeper, was storekeeper for the Glass House Company, and advertised all sorts of bottles and a variety of glassware “too tedious to mention, at reasonable rates.” He stated that gentlemen who wished bottles of any size with their names on them, “could be supplied with all expedition.” A few years later, 1758, notice was given by Matthias Ernest that the newly-erected Glass House at New Foundland, within four miles of the city, was at work and ready to supply bottles, flasks and any sort of glassware. Newfoundland was the name of a farm of about thirty-three acres, four miles from the city on the North River, extending from the present Thirty-fifth Street northward, on which this glass house had been erected. It is not unlikely that the Glass House was visited by many persons, either on business or from curiosity, and that they were there entertained by the owner or manager of the property; at any rate, it seems to have acquired a reputation for good dinners. Paymaster General Mortier notes in his diary a dinner at the Glass House on February 18, 1758, which cost him 3s. 6d. The manufacture of glass was not successful, but the place became a well-known suburban resort, where good dinners were served to visitors from the city. In 1764 the Glass House was kept by Edward Agar, who, in addition to serving dinners, could furnish apartments to ladies or gentlemen who wished to reside in the country for the benefit of their health. In 1768 it was kept by John Taylor, and it was evidently then a popular resort, for a stage wagon was advertised to run out to it every day, leaving Mr. Vandenberg’s, where the Astor House now stands, at three o’clock in the afternoon.

VII

The King’s Arms

George Burns, as has been stated, was in 1753 keeping one of the best taverns in New York. Soon after this he left the city and took charge of the tavern at Trenton Ferry, which was on the great post road between New York and Philadelphia, over which flowed almost all travel between the two cities and to the south. The prospects must have been very enticing. Whether they were realized or not, Burns soon became anxious to make a change and, returning to New York, became the landlord of a tavern in Wall Street near Broadway, opposite the Presbyterian church, which was known as the Sign of Admiral Warren. Here he remained until June, 1758, when Scotch Johnny, retiring from the tavern near the Whitehall Slip, known as the Crown and Thistle, he moved into his house. The house of Scotch Johnny had been the meeting place for the St. Andrew’s Society while it was kept by him and it so continued to be after Burns became landlord.

King’s Head

Burns retained for a time the old sign of the Crown and Thistle, but some time about the middle of the year 1760, took it down and hung out in its stead the sign of King George’s Head, and the tavern became known as the King’s Head. It continued to be the meeting place of the Scots’ Society. They held their anniversary meeting here on St. Andrew’s Day, Monday, November 30, 1761, and elected the Earl of Stirling, William Alexander, president of the society. The members of the society dined together as usual and in the evening a splendid ball and entertainment was given, which was attended by the principal ladies and gentlemen in the town. It was a grand and notable ball. The newspapers state that “The Company was very numerous, everything was conducted with the greatest regularity and decorum and the whole made a most brilliant and elegant appearance.”

In the latter part of the year 1761 the army was coming down from the north, there was a large camp of soldiers on Staten Island and New York City was full of officers. Burns’ house, the King’s Head, became the headquarters of the Scotch officers of the army when they were in the city and their favorite place of rendezvous. The effects of several of the Royal Highland officers, who had died, were sold at public vendue at Burns’ Long Room in November, 1762. There must have been many articles to be disposed of, for the sale was to be continued from day to day until all were sold. The effects of Lieutenant Neal, late of the 22d Regiment, consisting of wearing apparel, etc., etc., etc., etc., were sold at public vendue at the same place in December.

The King’s Arms

We have been unable to find any record to establish the fact or even a hint to justify a deduction that there ever was at any time in the colonial period any house known as Burns’ Coffee House. We believe this to be entirely a modern creation. The house described and illustrated in Valentine’s Corporation Manual of 1865 as Burns’ Coffee House, or the King’s Arms Tavern, although the statements concerning it have been accepted by many writers, was never occupied by Burns; and the story of this house, as related in the Corporation Manual of 1854, is simply a strong draft on the imagination of the writer. The tavern which hung out the sign of the King’s Arms, on the corner of Broad and Dock Streets, had been also known as the Exchange Coffee House and the Gentlemen’s Coffee House, but when Burns moved into it in 1751, he dropped the name Coffee House and called it simply the King’s Arms. Mrs. Sarah Steel, in 1763, carried the sign to Broadway, as appears by the following announcement:

“Mrs. Steel Takes this Method to acquaint her Friends and Customers, That the King’s Arms Tavern, which she formerly kept opposite the Exchange she hath now removed into Broadway (the lower end, opposite the Fort), a more commodious house, where she will not only have it in her power to accommodate Gentlemen with Conveniences requisite to a Tavern, but also with genteel lodging Apartments, which she doubts not will give Satisfaction to every One who will be pleased to give her that Honour.”

Mrs. Steel, in February, 1767, advertised that the Broadway house was for sale and that the furniture, liquors, etc., would be sold whether the house were sold or not. A few months previous to this announcement, Edward Bardin, probably anticipating the retirement of Mrs. Steel from business, had acquired the sign, which we presume was a favorite one, and had hung it out at his house on upper Broadway, opposite the Common. The writer of the article in the Corporation Manual gives the following advertisement, which appears in Parker’s Post Boy of May 27, 1762, as evidence that Burns occupied the house before Mrs. Steel moved into it.

“This is to give Notice to all Gentlemen and Ladies, Lovers and Encouragers of Musick, That this day will be opened by Messrs. Leonard & Dienval, Musick Masters of this city, at Mr. Burnes Room, near the Battery, a public and weekly Concert of Musick. Tickets four Shillings. N. B. The Concert is to begin exactly at 8 o’clock, and end at ten, on account of the coolness of the evening. No Body will be admitted without tickets, nor no mony will be taken at the door.”

This concert did not take place in the house on Broadway, but in the house of George Burns, the King’s Head near the Battery. Burns had succeeded Scotch Johnny, and had in his house a long room where societies met and where concerts and dinners were given on special occasions. “Burns’ Long Room” was well known at that time. The following appeared in the New York Journal of April 7, 1768:

“To be let, from the 1st of May next, with or without Furniture, as may suit the tenant, the large corner house wherein Mrs. Steel lately kept the King’s Arms Tavern, near the Fort now in the possession of Col. Gabbet.”

The next year Col. Gabbet, having moved out, was living next door to the house of John Watts, who lived in Pearl Street near Moore. In 1770 Edward Bardin announced that he had taken “the large, commodious house known by the name of the King’s Arms, near Whitehall, long kept by Mrs. Steel, which he will again open as a tavern.” George Burns succeeded Bardin and kept the house for a short time in 1771.

Before the Revolutionary War there was no Whitehall Street. What is now Whitehall Street was known as Broadway. There is no doubt about this. In a list of retailers of spirituous liquors in the city of New York in April, 1776, we find one on Broadway near Pearl Street, one on Broadway near the Lower Barracks, another on Broadway opposite the Fort and two others on Broadway near the Breastworks. These were all on the present Whitehall Street. In Mrs. Steel’s announcement she states that the King’s Arms Tavern was on Broadway (the lower end opposite the Fort), that is, on the present Whitehall Street. As the house was on a corner, its location was probably the corner of the present Bridge and Whitehall Streets. If there were left any doubt about this, it should be thoroughly dissipated by the advertisement, December 30, 1765, of Hetty Hayes, who made and sold pickles in her home, which she states was on Wynkoop (now Bridge) Street, near the King’s Arms Tavern. Notwithstanding the many statements to the contrary, no house known as the King’s Arms Tavern or Burns’ Coffee House ever stood on the west side of Broadway opposite the Bowling Green.

Some time after the middle of the seventeenth century Cornelis Steenwyck built a fine house on the southeast corner of the present Whitehall and Bridge Streets, and it was here no doubt, the grand dinner was given to Governor Nicolls on his departure from the province. In an inventory of Steenwyck’s estate in 1686 the house was valued at seven hundred pounds. This indicates that it was a large, and for that time, a very valuable dwelling. In the illustration copied from Valentine’s Corporation Manual of 1864, there is a sign attached to the house. We do not know the source from which this illustration was obtained, but the sign we presume to be a tavern sign, and we are inclined to think, for various reasons, that this house was for many years used as a tavern and that for a time subsequent to 1763, it was the King’s Arms. It was probably destroyed in the great fire of 1776.

About this time a man made his appearance as a tavern-keeper whose name, although he was not a hero or a great man, has come down to us, and will go down to many future generations in connection with the revolutionary history of the city. Samuel Francis was a tavern-keeper without a peer, and when the time came to decide, struck for liberty and independence, abandoned his property and stuck to his colors like a true patriot. He came to New York from the West Indies. Although from the darkness of his complexion commonly called Black Sam, he was of French descent.