Tavern

Tavern Scene by Flemish artist David Teniers c. 1658

A Dutch tavern scene by Jan Steen, late 17th century

Raleigh Tavern, Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia

Buckman Tavern, where the first shots of the American Revolution were fired, Lexington, Massachusetts

Parker Tavern, Reading, Massachusetts showing traditional New England saltbox architecture

A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in most cases, where travelers receive lodging. An inn is a tavern which has a license to put up guests as lodgers. The word derives from the Latin taberna whose original meaning was a shed, workshop, stall, or pub.

Over time, the words "tavern" and "inn" became interchangeable and synonymous. In England, inns started to be referred to as public houses or pubs and the term became standard for all drinking houses.

Australia

"Wowser" was a negative term for Christian moralists in Australia, especially activists in temperance groups such as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Historian Stuart Macintyre argues, "the achievements of the wowsers were impressive." They passed laws that restricted obscenity and juvenile smoking, raised the age of consent, limited gambling, closed down many pubs, and in 1915–16 established a 6pm closing hour for pubs, which lasted for decades.

France

From at least the fourteenth century, taverns, along with inns and later cabarets, were the main places to dine out. Typically, a tavern offered various roast meats, as well as simple foods like bread, cheese, herring and bacon. Some offered a richer variety of foods, though it would be cabarets and later traiteurs (see Traiteur (culinary profession)) who offered the finest meals before the restaurant appeared in the eighteenth century. Their stated purpose however was to serve wine (not beer or cider, which had other outlets) and they were disreputable enough that women of any standing avoided them.

After 1500, taxes on wine and other alcoholic beverages grew increasingly more burdensome, not only because of the continual increase in the level of taxation, but also because of the bewildering variety and multiplicity of the taxes. This chaotic system was enforced by an army of tax collectors. The resultant opposition took many forms. Wine growers and tavern keepers concealed wine and falsified their methods of selling it to take advantage of lower tax rates. The retailers also engaged in clandestine refilling of casks from hidden stocks. Wine merchants stealthily circumvented inspection stations to avoid local import duties. When apprehended, some defrauders reacted with passive resignation, while others resorted to violence. Situated at the heart of the country town or village, the tavern was one of the traditional centers of social and political life before 1789, a meeting place for both the local population and travelers passing through and a refuge for rogues and scoundrels. Taverns symbolized opposition to the regime and to religion.

Taverns sometimes served as restaurants. In 1765, in Paris was founded the first restaurant in the modern sense of the term. However, the first Parisian restaurant worthy of the name was the one founded by Beauvilliers in 1782 in the Rue de Richelieu, called the Grande Taverne de Londres.

Émile Zola's novel L'Assommoir ["The tavern"] (1877) depicted the social conditions typical of alcoholism in Paris among the working classes. The drunk destroyed not only his own body, but also his employment, his family, and other interpersonal relationships. The characters Gervaise Macquart and her husband Coupeau exemplified with great realism the physical and moral degradation of alcoholics. Zola's correspondence with physicians reveal he used authentic medical sources for his realistic depictions in the novel.

Germany

German tavern circa 1470

A common German name for German taverns or pubs is Kneipe. Drinking practices in 16th-century Augsburg, Germany, suggest that the use of alcohol in early modern Germany followed carefully structured cultural norms. Drinking was not a sign of insecurity and disorder. It helped define and enhance men's social status and was therefore tolerated among men as long as they lived up to both the rules and norms of tavern society and the demands of their role as householder. Tavern doors were closed to respectable women unaccompanied by their husbands, and society condemned drunkenness among women, but when alcohol abuse interfered with the household, women could deploy public power to impose limits on men's drinking behavior.

Great Britain

Main articles: Pub and Inn

A scene in an unspecified tavern at Portsmouth after one or more ships have been paid off

Taverns were popular places used for business as well as for eating and drinking – the London Tavern was a notable meeting place in the 18th and 19th centuries, for example. However, the word tavern is no longer in popular use in the UK as there is no distinction between a tavern and an inn. Both establishments serve wine and beer/ale. The term 'pub' (an abbreviation of 'public house') is now used to describe these houses. The legacy of taverns and inns is now only found in the pub names, e.g. Fitzroy Tavern, Silver Cross Tavern, Spaniards Inn, etc. The word also survives in songs such as "There is a Tavern in the Town".

The range and quality of pubs varies wildly throughout the UK as does the range of beers, wines, spirits and foods available. Most quality pubs will still serve cask ales and food. In recent years there has been a move towards "gastro" pubs where the food is of better quality. Originally, taverns served as rest stops about every fifteen miles and their main focus was to provide shelter to anyone who was traveling. Such taverns would be divided into two major parts – the sleeping quarters and the bar. There is generally a sign with some type of symbol, often related to the name of the premises, to draw in customers. The purpose of this is to indicate that the establishment sells alcohol and to set it apart from the competition.

Mexico

Reformers who denounced the terrible effects of heavy consumption of alcohol on public disorder, health, and quality of work, made periodic attempts to control it in Mexico City in the late 18th century and early 19th century. The poor frequented the pulquerías where pulque, made from the maguey plant, was sold. After the legalization of the more potent aguardiente in 1796, the poor could also afford the viñaterías where hard liquor was served, and drunkenness increased. The taverns played an important social and recreational role in the lives of the poor. Influential citizens often owned the pulcherías and opposed reform as did owners of the maguey haciendas. Tax revenues from alcohol were important to the government. These factors, added to lax enforcement of the laws, resulted in the failure of tavern reform.

North America

The Vera Cruz Tavern in Vera Cruz, Pennsylvania

Colonial Americans drank a variety of distilled spirits. As the supply of distilled spirits, especially rum, increased and the price dropped, they became the drink of choice throughout the colonies. In 1770, per capita consumption was 3.7 gallons of distilled spirits per year, rising to 5.2 gallons in 1830 or approximately 1.8 one-ounce shots a day for every adult white man. That total does not include the beer or hard cider that colonists routinely drank in addition to rum, the most popular distilled beverage available in English America. Benjamin Franklin printed a "Drinker's Dictionary" in his Pennsylvania Gazette in 1737, listing some 228 slang terms used for drunkenness in Philadelphia.

The sheer volume of hard liquor consumption fell off, but beer grew in popularity and men developed customs and traditions based on how to behave at the tavern. By 1900, the 26 million American men over age 18 patronized 215,000 licensed taverns and probably 50,000 unlicensed (illegal) ones, or one per hundred men. Twice the density could be found in working class neighborhoods. They served mostly beer; bottles were available but most drinkers went to the taverns. Probably half the American men avoided saloons, so the average consumption for actual patrons was about a half-gallon of beer per day, six days a week. In 1900, the city of Boston (with about 200,000 adult men) counted 227,000 daily saloon customers.

Colonial America to 1800

Taverns in the colonies closely followed the ordinaries of the mother country. Taverns, along with inns, at first were mostly known as ordinaries, which were constructed throughout most of New England. These institutions were influential in the development of new settlements, serving as gathering spaces for the community. Taverns here though served many purposes such as courtrooms, religious meetings, trading posts, inns, post offices, and convenience stores. The taverns in the north and south were different in their uses as well unlike the central ideal tavern in England. The ones in the South that are closer to the frontier were used as inns and trading post from those who were headed into the unknown lands to settle. The multiple functions of public houses were especially important in frontier communities where other institutions were often weak, and this was certainly true on the southern colonial frontier. They were supervised by county officials who recognized the need for taverns and the need to maintain order, to minimize drunkenness and avoid it if possible on Sundays, as well as to establish the responsibilities of tavern keepers. With these profits came progress, improving their new homeland with the use of taverns as well as breweries. The original structure of these taverns were log cabins, typically a storey and a half high with two rooms on each floor. The ground floor was the floor the public could use where the upper level floor was the bedrooms and somewhat removed from the public.

Earliest hotels

Larger taverns provided rooms for travelers, especially in county seats that housed the county court. Upscale taverns had a lounge with a huge fireplace, a bar at one side, plenty of benches and chairs, and several dining tables. The best houses had a separate parlor for ladies, an affable landlord, good cooking, soft, roomy beds, fires in all rooms in cold weather, and warming pans used on the beds at night. In the backwoods, the taverns were wretched hovels, dirty with vermin for company; even so they were more pleasant and safer for the stranger than camping by the roadside. Even on main highways such as the Boston Post Road, travelers routinely reported the taverns had bad food, hard beds, scanty blankets, inadequate heat, and poor service. One Sunday in 1789, General George Washington, was touring Connecticut; discovering that the locals discouraged travel on the Sabbath, he spent the day at Perkins Tavern, "which by the way is not a good one."

Locals

Taverns were essential for colonial Americans, especially in the South where it was mostly rural. In the taverns the colonists learned current crop prices, arranged trades, heard newspapers read aloud, and discovered business opportunities and the latest betting odds on the upcoming horse races. For most rural Americans the tavern was the chief link to the greater world, playing a role much like the city marketplace in Europe and Latin America.

Taverns absorbed leisure hours and games were provided—always decks of cards, perhaps a billiards table. Horse races often began and ended at taverns, as did militia-training exercises. Cockfights were popular. At upscale taverns the gentry had private rooms or even organized a club. When politics was in season, or the county court was meeting, political talk filled the taverns.

Taverns served multiple functions on the Southern colonial frontier. Society in Rowan County, North Carolina, was divided along lines of ethnicity, gender, race, and class, but in taverns the boundaries often overlapped, as diverse groups were brought together at nearby tables. Consumerism in the backcountry was limited not by ideology or culture but by distance from markets and poor transportation. The increasing variety of drinks served and the development of clubs indicates that genteel culture spread rapidly from London to the periphery of the English world.

Business

In the colonial era, in certain areas, up to 40 percent of taverns were operated by women —especially widows. Local magistrates—who had to award a license before a tavern could operate—preferred widows who knew the business and might otherwise be impoverished and become a charge to the county. Mainly, because taverns started to become upper-class establishments, calling for more experienced proprietors. Only licensed ordinaries, though, would usually be able to sell alcohol for consumption with fixed measures for fixed prices. Women and children were not usually welcome as fellow drinkers. In some instances women and children were welcome in taverns but it was mostly a place reserved for men. If women were found in a tavern they were typically considered prostitutes. Women would come into taverns to look for their husbands, or they would come with their fathers or brothers; other than that women were not allowed. The drinkers were men—and indeed often defined their manliness by how much alcohol they could drink at a time. The public held standards like keeping an orderly house, selling at prices that were the same as what the law said, and not slandering other tavern keepers, resulting in bad reputations.

Meeting place and community center

In rural communities the tavern was a very important public space. The tavern offered the community not only a place to meet, but also a place to conduct business. The tavern also acted as an improptu court house where rules could be made and disputes could be settled. From 1660 to 1665 the Virginia government met in Jamestown at the local taverns. From 1749 to 1779, the Mosby Tavern was the courthouse, jail, and militia rendezvous for Cumberland County, Virginia and later for Powhatan County, Virginia. Gifford Dalley managed City Tavern in Philadelphia, which served as an unofficial meeting place for the First Continental Congress and in documents he served as the Keeper of the Door for the First, Second and Third United States Congresses. Daily's brother-in-law Samuel Fraunces owned Fraunces Tavern in New York City where Congress met while City Hall was under construction. The last time Congress met at a tavern it was at Fraunces Tavern. The Tun Tavern in Philadelphia is regarded as the place where the U.S. Marines were first recruited. Neither place still exists. A reconstruction of City Tavern in Philadelphia is still in operation.

Mail stop and post office

Many were also the local post office and or the polling place. The United States Postal Service had its origins in the private taverns and coffeehouses of America.

A depiction of Civil War troops reading their mail at the Eagle Tavern which doubled as the post office in Silver Spring, Maryland can be seen at the Silver Spring Library. The Old Post Office Tavern is in operation today in Leavenworth, Washington. Old Kelley's Tavern in New Hampshire is a multifunctional tavern. Colonel William B. Kelley of New Hampshire operated a tavern and was the Postmaster General for New Hampshire. The mail came and went from his home. The Hanover Tavern in Hanover County, Virginia is another tavern which also operated as the post office. The General Wayne Inn in Lower Merion Pennsylvania also served as a post office from 1830 to 1850 and was also the polling place in 1806.

Oldest taverns

The historic White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island, in the United States

The Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts

Barroom Dancing, c. 1820, by John Lewis Krimmel

The oldest tavern is a distinction claimed by numerous establishments. Some establishments clarify their claims with oldest continuously operating tavern, oldest family-owned tavern, oldest drinking establishment, or oldest licensed; there are many ways to distinguish the oldest tavern. The first tavern in Boston, Massachusetts was a Puritan ordinary, opened on March 4, 1633. That date would have been given under the Julian Calendar, which was in use by England and its colonies at the time. Under the modern Gregorian calendar, that same day would have fallen in the calendar year 1634.

The White Horse Tavern, in Newport, Rhode Island, is most likely the Tavern housed in the oldest building {built 1683; licensed 1687}. The Blue Anchor, the first drinking establishment at Front and Dock Streets in Philadelphia, began operation in 1681. Jean Lafitte's Black Smith Shoppe in New Orleans, Louisiana some claim to be the oldest bar continuously operating before 1775. Lafitte himself was born in 1776. The Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts, is reputedly the oldest operating inn in America, going back to 1716.

Germania (German-America)

In Germania, (the German-American districts of cities) a beer culture flourished in 19th-century America in taverns, saloons, and especially beer-gardens and beer-halls which operated on Sundays and attracted entire families. Avoiding hard whiskey, the Germans favored beer and wine, and had far less of a problem with alcoholism .

Germans operated nearly all of the nation's breweries, and demand remained high, until prohibition arrived in 1920. German-American newspapers promoted temperance but not abstinence. From the German perspective the issue was less the ill effects of alcohol than its benefits in promoting social life. For American Germans, the beer garden stood alongside the church as one of the two pillars of German social and spiritual life.

New York City

Perhaps the most famous American tavern is Fraunces Tavern, at the corner of Broad and Pearl streets in lower Manhattan. Originally built as a residence in 1719, it was opened as a tavern by Samuel Fraunces in 1762, and became a popular gathering place. Fraunces Tavern was the site of merchants' meetings on the post-1763 taxes, plots by the Sons of Liberty, entertainments for British and Loyalist officers during the Revolution. In its Long Room, on December 4, 1783, General George Washington said farewell to his officers and family.

New England

The heavy Puritan heritage of New England meant that local government was strong enough to regulate—and close—rowdy places. But the power of ministers faded, and by the 1690s provincial leaders recognized that they could not eradicate hard drinking in taverns. From that point until after the American Revolution, the tavern was a widely accepted institution in Massachusetts .

Between 1697 and 1756 Elizabeth Harvey, followed by her daughter-in-law Ann Harvey Slayton, operated a successful tavern in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Their careers reveal the public acceptance of female management and authority within the confines of the tavern. Under Harvey, the tavern became a mail stop and began hosting General Assembly and executive committee meetings. After Slayton took over, the tavern held town meetings, supplied necessities to the poor for which the town gave reimbursement, and provided accommodations for the provincial government, courts, and legislative committees.

Sexes and ethnicity in taverns in Colonial America

Taverns were known for their consumption of alcohol and prostitution during the establishment in American colonies during the 1700s and 1800s. Women weren’t allowed to drink alone in the bars without their husbands without having the social stigma of being called prostitutes. Women during those times did drink but it was mainly in their own houses among family. Most of this didn’t change until prohibition in the 1920s which would force sexes to mix while drinking. Woman were allowed to hold jobs as bartenders and tavern owners during this time because it was looked at as a profession suitable for women. This was more than likely due to the view of their being able to keep the tavern clean and serve whoever would stay in the tavern during this time.

The ethnicity of Colonial America was something never seen or heard of before. This was due to the big ethnic mix of the taverns of America that was not seen anywhere else. It was said that one could walk into one of the taverns in the British colonies and be able to hear 14 different dialects. The ethnic and social class mix of people was something brand new to new comers who were used to the tavern scene of Europe. Tavern life in England was divided mainly by social class and one would not see a mix of social or ethnic backgrounds in any tavern throughout Europe. The majority of the mixing of ethnicity due mainly to the trade industry that was booming in the Americas at this time. The mixing of races was something new and interesting to many foreigners who would hear stories of other people’s accounts of going into American taverns and the weird things they saw. This would intrigue many people and would bring them to the colonies to get a glimpse of what the American Tavern life was all about.

Ethnic saloons

In ethnic neighborhoods of cities, mill towns and mining camps, the saloonkeeper was an important man. Groups of 25–50 recent arrivals speaking the same language—and probably also from the same province or village back in Europe—drank together and frequented the same saloon. They trusted the saloonkeeper to translate and write letters for them, help with transatlantic letters and remittances, keep their savings for them, and explain American laws and customs.

Speakeasies

The speakeasy (or "blind pig") was an illegal bar that became extremely common during prohibition (1920–33). The term "speakeasy" became popular in Pennsylvania in the late 1880s as illegal saloons flourished when the cost of legal liquor licenses was raised under the Brooks High License law. Most taverns closed up, but drinkers found out-of-the-way speakeasies that would serve them. The owners had to buy illegal beer and liquor from criminal syndicates (the most famous was run by Al Capone in Chicago), and had to pay off the police to look the other way. The result was an overall decrease in drinking and an enormous increase in organized crime, gang warfare and civic corruption, as well as a decline in tax revenue. Prohibition was repealed in 1933 and legitimate places reopened. See Prohibition in the United States#Crime and Repeal

Canada

Roberts (2008) shows that in Upper Canada (Ontario) in the early 19th century, there was an informal ritual at work that tavern keepers and patrons followed. For example, the barrooms were reserved for men but adjacent rooms were places where women could meet, families could come, and female sociability flourished. Meanwhile, the local men and visitors such as travelers, doctors, tradespeople, and artists could express their views on topics of general interest.

Occasionally heated arguments would break into fights between religious or ethnic groups. Despite efforts by social reformers to regulate taverns in Ontario, physical violence linked to drinking was common. Indeed, 19th-century masculinity, derived from earlier models of fur traders in the region, was often predicated on feats of strength and stamina and on skill in fighting. Taverns were the most common public gathering place for males of the working class and thus the site of frequent confrontations. Men's honor and men's bodies, socially and historically linked, found public, and often destructive, expression in the tavern setting.

The term "tavern" was regularly used in Ontario until the mid-1980s, when it disappeared, having been replaced with the word "bar", for almost any restaurant type of facility that sold alcohol.

Scandinavia

Scandinavia had very high drinking rates, which led to the formation of a powerful prohibition movement in the 19th century. Magnusson (1986) explains why consumption of spirits was so high in a typical preindustrial village (Eskilstuna) in Sweden, 1820–50. An economic feature of this town of blacksmiths was based on the Verlag, or outwork production system, was its complex network of credit relationships. The tavern played a crucial role in cultural and business life and was also the place where work and leisure were fused. Heavy drinking facilitated the creation of community relationships in which artisans and workers sought security. Buying drinks rather than saving money was a rational strategy when, before adjustment to a cash economy, it was essential to raise one's esteem with fellow craftsmen to whom one could turn for favors in preference to the Verlag capitalist.

Southern Europe

Greece

Taverna in Greece is commonly known as the restaurant. Their history begins from the Classical times, with the earliest evidence of a taverna discovered at the Ancient Agora of Athens (or Athenian Agora), the style remains the same to this day. Greek tavernes (plural of taverna) are the most common restaurants in Greece. A typical menu includes portion dishes, or small dishes of meat and fish, as well as salads and appetizer. Mageirefta is the menu section that includes a variety of different cooked dishes in casserole every day. Mainly the other choices are prepared roasted (tis oras) or fried. Orektika (appetizers) include small dishes of Greek sauces, alifes, usually eaten on bites of bread. Tavernas offer different kind of wines and retsina in barrels or in bottles, ouzo or tsipouro, with beer and refreshments being a recent addition. In the Byzantine times, tavernas were the place for a social gathering, to enjoy a meal, live music and friendly talks with a drink accompanied with a small variety-dishes mezes.

• In former Yugoslavia, the kafana served, apart from food, alcoholic beverages.

See also

• Bar (establishment)
• Izakaya
• List of bars
• List of public house topics
• Prohibition
• Prohibition in the United States
• Pub
• Taverna
• Tavern clock
• Woman's Christian Temperance Union

Bibliography

• Blocker, Jack S. (ed.) Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Encyclopedia (2 vol 2003)
• Cherrington, Ernest, (ed.) Standard Encyclopaedia of the Alcohol Problem 6 volumes (1925–1930), comprehensive international coverage to late 1920s
• Gately, Iain Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol (2008). ISBN 978-1-592-40464-3.
• Heath, Dwight B. International Handbook on Alcohol and Culture (1995), 27 countries in late 20th century
• Phillips, Rod. Alcohol: A History (U. of North Carolina Press, 2014)

Europe

• Bennett, Judith M. Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women's Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 (Oxford University Press, 1996)
• Brennan, Thomas. Public Drinking and Popular Culture in Eighteenth Century Paris (1988),
• Clark, Peter. The English Alehouse: A Social History, 1200–1800 (1983).
• Unger, Richard W. Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (U of Pennsylvania Press, 2004)

North America

• Conroy, David W. In Public Houses: Drink and the Revolution of Authority in Colonial Massachusetts (1995)
• Duis, Perry. The saloon: public drinking in Chicago and Boston, 1880–1920? (1975) 416 pages; wide-ranging scholarly history excerpt and text search
• Earle, Alice Morse. Stage-coach and tavern days (1922), heavily illustrated full text online at Google
• Gottlieb, David. "The Neighborhood Tavern and the Cocktail Lounge a Study of Class Differences." American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 62, No. 6 (May, 1957), pp. 559–562 in JSTOR, Chicago in 1950s
• Gusfield, Joseph R. "Passage To Play: Rituals of Drinking Time in American Society," in Constructive Drinking: Perspectives on Drink from Anthropology, ed. Mary Douglas (1987), 73–90.
• Heron, Craig. Booze: A Distilled History (2003), on Canada
• Kingsdale, Jon M. "The 'Poor Man's Club': Social Functions of the Urban Working-Class Saloon," American Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 4 (Oct., 1973), pp. 472–489 in JSTOR
• Lemasters, E. E. Blue-Collar Aristocrats: Life-Styles at a Working Class Tavern. (1975) in Wisconsin in the 1970s.
• Lender, Mark Edward, and James Kirby Martin. Drinking in America: A History (1982).
• McBurney, Margaret and Byers, Mary. Tavern in the Town: Early Inns and Taverns of Ontario. (1987). 259 pp.
• Mancall, Peter C. "'The Art Of Getting Drunk' in Colonial Massachusetts." Reviews in American History 1996 24(3): 383–388. 0048–7511 in Project MUSE
• Meacham, Sarah Hand. "Keeping the Trade: The Persistence of Tavernkeeping among Middling Women in Colonial Virginia," Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2005, pp. 140–163 in Project MUSE
• Murphy, Kevin C. "Public Virtue, Public Vices: On Republicanism and the Tavern" (thesis Columbia University 2009) online edition
• Powers, Madelon. Faces along the Bar: Lore and Order in the Workingman's Saloon, 1870–1920 (1998)
• Rice, Kim. Early American Taverns: For the Entertainment of Friends and Strangers (1983)
• Roberts, Julia. In Mixed Company: Taverns and Public Life in Upper Canada (UBC Press, 2008). 228 pp. ISBN 978-0-7748-1575-8
• Rorabaugh, William J. The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition (1979)
• Rothbart, Ron. "The Ethnic Saloon as a Form of Immigrant Enterprise," International Migration Review, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Summer, 1993), pp. 332–358 in JSTOR, study of coal towns in 19c Pennsylvania
• Salinger, Sharon V. Taverns and Drinking in Early America (2002)
• Struzinski, Steven. "The Tavern in Colonial America," The Gettysburg Historical Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2002), pp. 29–38. ISSN 2327-3917. Full text.
• Thompson, Peter. Rum Punch and Revolution: Taverngoing and Public Life in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia (1999)

Further reading

• Historic Taverns of Boston by Gavin R. Nathan