Chas. Taverns mentioned in McCrady's history, 1719-
Shepheard's Tavern - 1754 p. 251
Poinsett's Tavern - 1761 p. 354
Gordon's Tavern - 1755 p. 432
Blythe's Tavern on Broad St. p. 498
Dillon's Tavern - 577 at the corner of Broad and Church St.
p. 538 There were fashionable taverns, too, where entertainments were had, and which the gentlemen of leisure frequented. Mr. Dillon's, at the corner of Church and Broad streets, — "the corner "as it was afterward called, — and Mr. Poinsett's, on the Bay, were the chief of these. It was to these houses that the processions from the Liberty Tree, in honor of Wilkes and of the Massachusetts anti-rescinders, marched, and there the men went in to refresh themselves ; and there they met to discuss the affairs of the day.
p. 678 In the evening Club Number Forty-five met at Mr. Dillon's tavern, where an elegant entertain ment was provided for them and the usual forty -five toasts were drunk.
p. 733 At one of them, on May 13, 1774, an appeal was made to the other colonies to stop all importation from Great Britain and the West Indies until the blockade of Boston harbor should be repealed. A copy of this vote as it was termed was immediately sent to the other provinces, and upon its arrival it was presented to a number of the principal gentlemen in Charlestown. These gentlemen called a meeting of the inhabitants of the town, which took place at the tavern at the corner of Broad and Church streets, which had been Mr. Dillon's, and was now known as the " City Tavern " or " The Corner."
--------------------------------------------
A Short History of Shepheard’s Tavern (alt site for plays)
In the early days of the colony, Charles Town had few public buildings and its taverns served in a surrogate capacity. Shepheard’s Tavern stood out from all the rest. After the State House was built at the corner of Broad and Meeting streets in 1754, the tavern was strategically located midway between the center of government and the commercial heart of the city, the bustling on the wharfs on East Bay St. Quite naturally, the city’s power brokers patronized Shepheard’s Tavern.
The original tavern, built in 1705, fronted Broad St. and had a long room stretching along its Church St. side. For some years prior to 1751, this room was rented to the provincial government for court meetings as there were no suitable public buildings and the governor and council could not agree on where to build one. Thereafter, the long room was known as “the courtroom.”
The “courtroom” was used for a variety of entertainments. Henry Holt gave a ball there in December 1734. On January 11, 1735, The South Carolina Gazette, announced that Thomas Otway’s tragedy, The Orphan, or the Unhappy Marriage, would be attempted in the room later that month. This was the colonies’ first record of a theatrical season.
Shepheard’s Tavern was one of the town’s venues for banquets honoring the arrival of royal governors. The site also served as a post office in 1743, when Shepheard received and distributed the mail arriving by ship and by land. Solomon’s Lodge was organized at “Mr. Charles Shepheard’s in Broad Street” on Oct. 29, 1736. This was the first Masonic lodge in the United States.
In 1773, when the establishment was known as Swallow’s Tavern, the first Chamber of Commerce in America was formed on the site. The St. Andrew’s Society and other fraternal organizations held their meetings and dinners at Shepheard’s. During the Revolutionary period, the tavern was among those that hosted meetings of the Sons of Liberty.
On August 29, 1783, 43 Continental officers assembled at the tavern and formed the South Carolina Society of the Cincinnati. Maj. Gen. William Moultrie, hero of the battle of Fort Sullivan, was elected its first president. Their mission was to preserve the principles of liberty for which its founders had fought during the Revolution and to perpetuate those values through their descendants. This group is the only southern society to have remained in continuous existence since its founding.
-----------------------
Wicked Charleston
Bawdy houses like The Bear and other grog shops near Roper’s Alley and Beresford Alley (Chalmers Street) offered drink, entertainment and sex. Punch houses like the Two Brewers on Church Street and the Pig and Whistle on Tradd Street served sailors, wenches and locals. They served rum-based “slings,” “flipps” and “toddies.”
By 1720, Charles Town was one of the busiest ports in the colonies. The harbor hosted an average of one hundred fifty ships per day. Each ship carried a crew of at least a dozen, with some carrying a crew of more than fifty. A conservative estimate would place about eighteen hundred sailors from a dozen foreign ports taking their liberties in Charles Town at one time. After months at sea, these sailors would arrive in port and they wanted three things: wine, women and song, not always in that order.
. . .
In 1763, sixty-six tavern licenses were issued. Five years later the number had doubled— approximately one tavern for every five adult males. Half the licenses were issued to women. It was illegal for artisans to operate a drinking establishment, so most dodged the law by having their wives obtain the licenses. Most of the taverns doubled as brothels; alcohol on the first floor, flesh on the upper floors. For the affluent, the most popular house was Charles Shepheard’s tavern at the northeast corner of Church and Broad Streets (46 Broad Street). Another hot spot was Thomas Nightingale’s house just outside the city, which had a bowling alley.
The Sign of Bacchus was located on Bay Street and operated by Benjamin and Catherine Backhouse. Backhouse was a blacksmith, and Catherine owned the tavern license. It featured a dining room, a long room, a front room, piazza and cellar and was furnished with mahogany furniture by noted craftsman Thomas Elfe. There were nineteen beds for lodging and a bathtub. Bacchus employed eighteen slaves and an Irish indentured servant.
As the rowdiness of the nightlife spiraled out of control, robberies and violence in Charles Town increased. Citizens complained about the “notorious neglect” of the Night Watch. (Some things never change— citizens have always complained about corruption among the police force.) An investigation discovered the Night Watch was found to lack “men of good character” and that while on duty more than thirty of the Night Watch sold “Juggs of Liquor to Seaman and Negroes.”
-------
For such an educated elite society, they rarely used their free time for more intellectual pursuits. Charleston had the first public library in America, but the elite published no books of any serious quantity or quality. Reading was never a favorite recreation. It had to compete with wenches and alcohol. This lifestyle led to the ironic reality of well-bred young gentlemen involved in a social life that was deemed “low” and “lewd” by outsiders.
Because of the planters’ insistence on the subordination of their sons and the fact that the sons were dependent on their fathers’ inheritance, an entire generation of young men spent their years after college, and before marriage, in idleness by gambling, drinking and wenching. This set the standard for the behavior of Charleston men. Many of the elite women complained that the Charleston men were “fonder of their Cards and Brandy and Segars than their Company.”
It was no accident that the most famous Charlestonian of all time was a handsome, dashing, hard-drinking, womanizing (though fictional) scoundrel named Rhett Butler. He was the type of man to take a Charleston girl out in a buggy and refuse to marry her the next day. Reading Gone With The Wind will provide as accurate portrait of the life of an antebellum Charleston gentleman as any history book.
-------
During the 1760s there was a dramatic increase in “notorious bawds and strumpets and idle persons roaming the streets, swearing and talking obscenely.” Mary McDowell and Mary Grant of Pinckney Street were cited for keeping “a most notorious brothel” and for “harboring loose and idle women.” The assembly criticized the “superabundance of licensed Taverns and Tippling Houses, gaming houses and disorderly houses.” The Reverend Charles Woodmason wrote extensively about the behavior of citizens, claiming “The Open profanation of the Lords Day in this Province is one of the most crying Sins in it— and is carried to a great height— among the low Class, it is abus’d by women frolicking and Wantoness. By others in Drinking Bouts and Card Playing— Even in and about Charles Town, the Taverns have more visitants than the Churches.” Woodmason was also concerned about the sexual behavior of his congregation. He complained of “promiscuous cohabiting” and people being “Addicted to those practices which would naturally produce Children.” He often traveled as an itinerant minister, traveling the back woods of the Lowcountry, trying to convert
-----------
Men enjoyed the taverns, or “punch houses,” such as Dillon’s on Broad Street, the Sign of Bacchus and the Georgia Coffee House. Carl Bridenbaugh of Boston wrote: “The importation of liquors at Charles Town staggers the imagination— 1500 dozen [18,000] bottles [of ale]... 1219 hogsheads [wine]... and 58 barrels of rum.” This was a six-month supply for one tavern. Taverns supplied more than drinks. There were shows, entertainments and women, all mixed in with the liquor and wine. The Planters Hotel (present location of the Dock Street Theatre) was the main hub for social occasions, entertainments, theatre and women. The upper floors of the hotel were reserved for “gentlemen and their private guests.” Unlike most of America’s ruling class, the men of Charleston were not reluctant to take advantage of their female slave population. Richard Hofstadter, Columbia University historian, noted: “By comparison with Charles Town’s elite, the old Boston’s uppercrust looked poor and flimsy... the [Charleston] hedonistic life... put the other seaboard towns in the shade.”
Jones, Mark R.. Wicked Charleston: The Dark Side of the Holy City (Kindle Locations 1048-1051). Arcadia Publishing Inc.. Kindle Edition.
Chas Footprints - Madeira City
One of Charleston’s nicknames from long ago was the “Madeira City”, referring to the inclination of residents to pull a cork. Archeological digs at various locations around the old city have verified that indeed the liver was an overworked organ, as artifacts often have included a wealth of wine and liquor receptacles. Among the prominent citizens known for an astounding drinking capacity was “two-bottle” John Rutledge, who found time between cocktails to preside twice as Governor of South Carolina, sign the Constitution, and be appointed Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Much of the political discourse of the colonial period was hashed out in the convivial atmosphere of private parlors, where it was a common practice for elite barristers and administrators to gather late in the afternoon and imbibe until the wee hours.
-----------------------
Small Beer --
In the colonies, malt and hops were dear, while molasses was cheap and readily available. Consequently, small beer made from molasses with other flavorings, such as pine or sassafras, became the norm throughout the colonies and were brewed in most households.
Washington's Molasses Small Beer Recipe:
Take a large Siffer [Sifter] full of Bran Hops to your Taste.–Boil these 3 hours then strain out 30 Gall[ons] into a cooler put in 3 Gall[ons] Molasses while the Beer is Scalding hot or rather draw the Melasses into the cooler & St[r]ain the Beer on it while boiling Hot. Let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm then put in a quart of Yea[s]t if the Weather is very Cold cover it with a Blank[et] & let it Work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask–leave the bung open till it is almost don[e] Working–Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed.
---------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment