I have been gathering contemporary accounts of tavern visiting for some
research I am doing on the two major routes into Kentucky (Limestone Trace
and Wilderness Road). Different types of taverns for different clientele
are of particular interest. The following quoted material discusses the
distinctions. It is a little lengthy for which I apologize, but an
interesting perspective from the standpoint of one traveler. His
observations mirror other people's perceptions.

From:

Some Particulars Relative to the Soil, Situation, Productions, &c of
Kentucky; Extracted from the Manuscript Journal of a Gentleman Not Long
Since Returned from Those Parts, National Gazette I (November 1791):1-3.
Writer was probably John Holt Rice, who was born in Bedford County, Va. and
ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1804. He made his trip in 1818.

The Taverns are generally wretched, unless one or two in the Capital town,
Lexington, and you are charged extravagantly for the worst fare; should a
man go to Kentuckey, who could eat neither milk nor bacon, his case would
be pitiable, but I do not mean to reflect, on the contrary I am willing to
allow that the buildings of every kind are improving as fast as the
circumstances of the country will permit.

Throughout the western country generally, but especially in those parts
where the inhabitants are of southern origin, there are few taverns, except
upon those main roads which connect important points. These afford
sufficient accommodations, and the traveler in passing by land, from
Pittsburgh or Wheeling to Cincinnati, from Maysville to Nashville, from
Louisville to St. Louis, or along any of the great avenues of intercourse,
may always, by taking care to procure in advance, a list of the best
houses, find a good meal, and a comfortable lodging. On the other roads,
where the number of travelers is not great enough to support regular
hotels, their places are supplied by houses of entertainment, kept by
farmers, who, without taking out a tavern-license, or keeping liquors for
sale, receive any traveler who may call and give him such food and lodging
as are used by their own families. The addition of a spare room, with two
or three neat beds for strangers, is usually the only preparation made by
those who engage in this business, and although the fare is sometimes very
coarse, the traveler often finds more comfort at these places, than at
better furnished hotels. There is, therefore, everywhere, except in the
large towns, a distinction made between a tavern and a house of
entertainment, and at the latter, the traveler who halts, in search of a
place of rest, and puts the question, "Do you keep a tavern?" is almost
invariably answered "No sir; but we try to entertain strangers, when they
call on us."  This explanation will account for much of the confusion which
is found in the accounts of foreigners, and persons from other parts of the
union, on this subject, and who, often in speaking of log-taverns, complain
of the absence of those attentions or comforts, which they consider it the
duty of the tavernkeeper to afford. The truth is, however, that those
remarks often apply to the houses of entertainment, the owners of which are
under no obligation to the public, and usually perform all that they
undertake. The process by which such houses come into use, seems to be
this: when a road begins to be traveled, through an entirely new country,
there are no taverns, and the travelers are necessarily obliged to seek
shelter and food at the houses of the farmers, who entertain them
gratuitously but the number at length increases, so as to render that kind
of hospitality burthensome, and the farmers request some one of their
number, to relieve them from such calls, by making the reception of
strangers a matter of business; or some one whose house is so situated as
to be more exposed than others to the visits of travelers, determines to
receive pay for that which his hospitable nature will not permit him to
refuse, and which he cannot afford to bestow gratuitously. He agrees
therefore to feed the horse of the traveler, and to furnish him with such
accommodations as his house affords, for a trifling compensation but he
makes no contract to do any more and, as the whole arrangement is the
result of an accommodating spirit, and is made for the benefit of the
stranger, and the public convenience, it is justly considered that the
advantage is mutual, and that the party entertained is really receiving a
civility, which a person of a correct mode of thinking would consider
enhanced by being permitted to pay for it. The principle upon which the
stranger is received, is that of hospitality, or perhaps necessity; there
is no other place at which he can stopthe farmer cannot turn him from his
door without inhumanity, and he consents to receive a remuneration for a
service which he cannot refusebut he does not undertake to alter his mode
of life, and neither makes his house a tavern, nor solicits the visits of
the stranger.





Nancy O'Malley
Assistant Director
William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology
1020A Export St.
University of Kentucky
Lexington, Ky. 40506
Tele: 859-257-8208
FAX: 859-323-1968
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