| Show I 1 new england taverns burr 3 Urr special correspondence old home week always brings much comment on the deserted farm house which furnishes material tor unbounded romance and sentiment but one element has been neglected in the stories relative to on the new hampshire hillsides and that is the numerous old taverns which have not been abandoned by their owners to tall into decay by disuse but have in stead been changed into prosperous homesteads dozens of these homesteads dot the country roads wherever one may take his way by auto or carriage through alt this region and their existence a potent reminder of das that li dished no palatial hotel or accommodation to the traveler who sought the hite mountains and yet were unique in the customs whereby man and beast round food and shelter and hospitality in the pioneer days of this region s history every log cabin was an inn in the sense that it supplied this food and shelter the fare might be sim pie and homely but the welcome was unstinted in its warm cordiality the first of these cabins serving as anns in littleton itself was the cabin of capt nathan caswell the first feet tier of the town the site is now pointed out to visitors and very near may be seen a handsome monument erected by the daughters of the revolution of littleton in memory of the first white child born in the town as well as in honor of the revolutionary heroes who enlisted in this locality the child born in the inn was named apthorp caswell apthorp being then the name of the town now littleton capt casall s cabin was 0 course not a regular place of entertainment tor the traveler but those who sought it were never turned away custom gave way finally to regular places of entertainment which were known as taverns first taverns on the road the road between upper and lawer cohos then most traveled had its erns at a distance 0 every four or five miles the first tavern was kept by jonas nurse an old settler whose de ants still live in this region it was on what Is now known as the fitch place it was a large log cabin with six rooms the loft being reached by a ladder sometimes guests were numerous that the entire floor was given ur to their accommodation and the large family of the landlord slept n the lott many of the early town meetings were held in its hospitable quarters all these taverns had the same gen eral characteristics they were log cabins and were larger than those erected solely for private use an in te resting feature about them wag the immense stone fireplace and ovens with a stone hearth large enough to cover one halt of the floor of the mod ern kitchen from the log houses evolved the frame houses used as taverns with the same spirit of hospitality and good cheer many a story has been handed down in regard to the bar it Is said that every tavern in this region was supplied with a bar and dealt gener bously in liquors except the williams tavern which was kept by james will lams and was famous from lancaster to lisbon and beyond foreign and domestic liquors were to be found the domestic liquors being new england rum and potato whisky hot flip was a favorite tavern drink it was considered a certain preventive for colds and similar ills and every traveler felt that after enduring the dangers of the cold and rigorous win ter weather he should order it at the bar often the traveler it Is said would call at every tavern along the route tor his glass of flip and as the taverns were only a few miles apart one may readily imagine that he kept warm and rendered himself impera lous to the rigors of the all nate at all the taverns except the will lams tavern the poker was always kept red hot the poker was feces sary in the manufacture of hot flip it being thrust into a mug of the liquor making tt seethe and boll and the traveler poured it down his throat in this fiery condition x ce in a tavern the williams tavern served as the first postoffice post office in littleton it was formed in 1802 with bamps williams the landlord as postmaster mall came and went each week and each way the carrier who rode horseback would deliver the mall to all the post offices between hanover and lancas ter his course taking him from lisbon at west littleton to lyman thence to the valley at west littleton again one of his patrons was deacon james rankin mrs rankin was a very pious woman and objected to sabbath doings of other than a churchly nature those who are lost without their dally and sunday papers can appreciate the feelings in the neighborhood when the carrier de bayed by a hard storm on saturday left the paper at the home of the ran kins on sunday and mrs rankin shucked at having a paper delivered on sunday carefully lifted the sheet with the tongs and dropped it into the fire blazing on the hearth that paper being the only taken in the neighbor hood it Is said that consternation reigned the neighbors voting mrs rankin more pious than wise they were de barred from receiving information of the great events in o 0 it being the time when the great napoleon was threatening the peace of the world by abrogating the treaty of amiens they were also kept from learning of th comments on the of I 1 auls lana which had just then been c n and a there were many voters ol 01 tee anti Jeffer son type in this legion mis rantain piety which had prevented them from a glimpse 0 the outside world wae a vexatious blow one fin Is these same taverns to i day in many instances changed into prosperous bon e and farmhouses specially ally numerous are they in norb ern new hampshire and vermont in at north littleton driving along the connecticut river one may count aa many as ten in a radius ot not more than eight or nine miles |
