Over and over,  I see the word "tavern" equated with the modern
licensing term of the same spelling.  Look carefully and you may find
that a "tavern" in historical reference is not the same kind of
establishment as we know today.

Under pre-prohibition laws, a tavern was a place licensed to feed and
shelter travellers' horses, provide limited sleeping facilities for
people, and cold meat.  It was not a place where the locals went
nightly to quaff port.  Look at tavern petitions, sales lists of
tavernkeepers estates, and most of all travelers accounts, and you will
understand the inventories of archaeological tavern diggings.  Over and
over, people remark of the paucity of glass, the large number of horse
accoutrements, and the non-drinking merchandise.  In one "tavern" site
the lime kiln was the most important asset, and there was only one
bedstead.

So, after the hard day's digging, please don't recess to a "tavern,"
even a licensed premises with facilities for your horse.





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