Smyrna times., 1911-05-24
OLD TAVERN CHARGES
Cost of Living at a Turnpike Inn
Near New York In 1916.
LOW PRICES THE RULE THEN

Inc regular Iarlff For a Dinner Was
10 Cents, and Wedding Breakfast
For Six, With Twelve Quarts of Oats
on the Side, Cost Just $1.69.
Guarded as carefully as any of the
guests jewels that lie beside it in the
big safe of a great and glittering
Broadway hotel in New York city and
treasured by the proprietor more than
its weight in gold is an old cashbook
1he entries run from March to De-
cember, 1916. They record in quaint,
descriptive phrases the comings and
gotngs of the travellers who stopped at
a wayside inn on a turnpike road less
than 100 miles from New York. This
| tavern was kept by the Broadway ho-
tel prOprietor's grandfather. The build
ing of the railroad, the passing of the
stagecoach and the changes of more
than half a century have obliterated
| this once famous old inn at South Dur
ham, and now all that remains of it is
| this ancient book, which served not
only as a record of cash received, but
took the place of the modern hotel
register.
The prices charged by this innkeep-
er of long ago are as far removed
from those eXacted today as this an
cient hostelry is from the gorgeous
summer hotels of the countryside
where it once stood. The regular price
for a dinner was 10 cents, but even
this appears to have been "cut" to fire.
quent travellers. For instance, there is
an entry of Candy peddler from AL
bany, two meals and lodging, 81
cents" Almost every entry is a brief
description of the individual traveller
and what he got-for example, Free
kle faced, eagle nosed boy, hay, sup
per, lodging and grease. 81 cents. y
This boy was probably driving a horse
and wagon, which would account for
the hay and grease. Another man who
was described as a fellow with tired
colt got hay, lodging and breakfast
for A cents.
Every few days there came along,
according to this ancient register, a
connecticut man." He invariably
spent just cents for food, and that
was for pie. On two occasions there
. is an additional charge for "greasing
wagon, 6 cents" There were no the
atrical companies touring this turn
pike road half a century ago, but a
= phrenologist appears and vanishes II
being recorded that for ''hay, 6 quarts
of oats. lodging and breakfast" hs
gave up 56 cents. Once in awhile 8
real spendthrift would come along
like the gent with three ladies anC
two children" They had six dinners
For these, the hay for the horses, th'
= meals for the dog" and the "segar'
for the man SIPS was charged. There
was a wedding breakfast at thi!
quaint tavern too. 1t is set down a:
u quarts of oats, SLIGO"
, People went west by wagon IL
d those days from the thickly settled
- east to seek their fortunes. Some die
q not find what they expected and cam
back again. One such group. an fem
igrart family returning east-seven o
them"-spent 50 at the inn. 'Thre
Ii cents worth of candy is a frequen
entry. Probably the ''candy peddle
J. from Albany paid for his food an,
% lodging in sweets. There are but tw
h entries Of anything stronger than len
onade, and those are for beer-fou
quarts for o cents. Oysters wer
c cheap, too, for six plates of them il
creased the contents of the taver
, keepers money box by just 10 cents.
Among the Journeyers along thi
| f,1rrriIya rood xuhncn ic ra00rc
n ed in this age yellowed volume is "Ol
al Particular" Doubtless he was som
a. cranky old codger who kicked abou
10 everything and whose goings the inI
- keeper sped as much as possible. The
there was the "Whistling Man." th
- "Stiff Arm Man." the "Dispeptic Man
VI Che had four quarts Of tea) and th
as Hen Man." who ate a piece of pl
ny and traded roosters with the hot,
d. keeper. Other travellers along tt
in highway are thus described: "Abol
h. tion Man." "S1ean Fellow" "Ger
of With Noble Horse" Lady With Cr.
y ing Baby" blank Days Likeness
: and "Cravat Peddler" fooD.
:, Occasionally an old acquaintanc
% would pass by or some dignitary, fl
VI It is set down that a friend fro
ne Lexington had hay and lodging Oh
as day at the Inn. Who knows but l
fe might have been a son Of one of II
go "embattled farmers" who kept Il
no bridge that April morning of the rit
as Of Paul Revere? The Grand Jur,
y and His Wife, tarried for a meal
NV the inn the same day as did the "Dor
- inie's Wife and Child" On Nov. 3,
ny the careful chronicle says. the pr
prietor "went to York." where he +
mained six days. He must have hs
a roaring, roistering time of it whi
sr- in the metropolis. for the next entl
ed in his handwriting is somewhat shal
ut and says, "Sundries while at York,
Tic oox+eO Now Vnrl- proSa