Evening star., 1915-05-23
~
AA
An Old Tavern.

IN HE HANDLERS recent narratf Of
ms trip over tho trail which John
Wilkes Booth and David HeroId fol
lowed in their flight from Washington
the night of the assassination of Pres,-
dent Lincoln has recalled to a friend ot
the Rambler certain memories of the
ancient brick house which for man
Years stood near the Anacosf!a end Of
the Navy Yard bridge. and which stiIi
stands though the southerly end Of the
new Anacostia bridge is considerably 10
the eastward of the old house.
The Rambler mentioned that d,r,nc
the civil war George Duvall kent =
tavern In that house. II was Rener-
ously patronized by soldiers, for there
was great coming and going across
1nat lr bridge by men OF the federal army
Ihe Anacostia heights We're crowned
with long line of forts. and Camp
Stoneman. on the lowlands around
Giesboro point. was populous place.
There was also large patronage Of
rural civilians. for two of the main
roads from southern Maryland to the
capital converged at the bridge
The Rambler's informant remembers
mat tavern and the neighborhood In
which it stood. back to about the year
1915. 1t was then kept by Alfred Bur
dine. Later it was kept by John IIoyd.
satd not to he the same Lloyd who was
the tenant of the Surratt tavern ar
Surrattsville in 1865
The John Lloyd who kept the Ana.
costa bridge tavern had two brothers
Joshua and William, and all of these
men are well rememb bered by old resi-
dents of the navy yard section of East
Washington and the county beyond the
Eastern branch. A branch, long ago
flled and built over, ran from the hills
and entered the Eastern branch Just in
the rear of the Burdine- LLOYD tavern
and along that branch were sheds for
the accommodation of the teams of
country people Close by the sheds
was a bowling alley. which seems to
have been the accompaniment of many
District taverns. The man who gave
the Rambler these recollections pre-
serves among his memories a picture of
that tavern at the time of the inaugu-
ration of President Pierce in 1853 The
sheds at the rear of the tavern, both
sides of the branch that flowed there,
and the roads meeting at the bridge
were crowded with the teams of people
who had driven in from the eastern
part of the District and from farms
throughout Prince Georges and Charles
counties. Some of the people had driv-
en- up from st. Marys county.
The only house other than the tavern
in that locality was frame cottage
which stood about where the car barns
of the Anacostia railroad were built a
good many years later. In that house
lived man named Atchison. who
worked in the navy yard. His daugh-
ter Mary became the wife of Sonny"
and died a few months ago. There
were two brothers Boyer One was
James Boyer. who was the gardener
for Washington Young when the latter
owned Giesborough. James settled near
Fort Greble. and his children and
grandchildren live in that locality now.
The ruins of Fort Greble lie on these
Boyer lands. sonny" Boyer, after
farming one or more tracts along the
Eastern branch, bought land and set
tied near Shepherds, or what is now
Shepherds. for that was long before the
branch line of the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad was built through that terri
tory. The Boyer descendants are nu-
merous in that country. and the Ram-
bier knows many of them.
Fox and Van Hook had not laid out
the subdivision on the southerly side
of the Eastern branch which they called
Uniontown, and the land in the south
east angle of the Good Hope and Asy-
lum roads was without house. There
was well, much used by travellers.
which stood at the corner of Harrison
and Monroe streets, and not Tar away
was a big walnut tree.
Another of the taverns of the county
south of the Eastern branch was San
derson's, the name of the keeper being
William Sanderson. 1t was frame
structure and stood on what is now
Nichols avenue near the intersection
of Pleasant street. 1t disappeared many
wears ago.