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The Inns ofBy MICHAEL P. MURPHY

T HE wi nds that wh istle dow nth e co rridors of time hav e car-ried away all the sign boa rds thato nce swung in the breeze from theinns and taverns of old St. Joh n's,

Gone . too . are the inns and tavernsand the men wh o played the partof "Mi ne Host" in them, No re-collectio n of the period in wh ichthey flou rished now exis ts even inthe memor y of the oldest inhab-itant. H is tory makes scant men tionof th e old -time hostelr ies and it ison ly from the narrat iv es of w riterswho were famili ar w ith th em thatwe can derive any worthwh ile in-fo rmation conc ern ing them.

There were inn s and taverns o fso me so rt in St. John 's eve n fromearliest tim es al though hi storians.who are quick to record dry-as-dustmatters that have litt le bearing onthe ord ina ry, everyday life of th epeople, make littl e or no referenceto them, Fro m old records we findthat even as far back as the vear1708 there was a n inn doi ng bus-iness on the Lower Path in St.John's,All taverns and inns bore dis-tinctive sig ns . In most cases th esigns were rough copies of thosecarried by inns back in the O ldCo untry . They were by no meansworks of art. In fact , they wereonly crude rep resentatio ns of thesubjects mentioned in the nam es ofthe inns such as " T he Dove, ""The Red Cow ," "T he Ship , "The20

Swan ." T he men who paintedthem made no claim to artis tic tal -ent. but in those days of wide-spread illiteracy the signs thernsel-ves stood out prominently as guideposts to person s unable to read , andconsequently served a useful if notesthetic pu rpose .In th e Royal Gazette of Decem-ber 2 4, 1807 , there is a list ofpersons licensed to keep taverns inthe tow n of St. John 's for the en-suing year. Th e names of the tav-erns are inte resti ng to not e. F rom" River Head to Mr. Bou cher's,Bulley's Farm" there stood theBun ch of Grapes, the Rose andCrow n, the Sh ip, the Br itanni a, theNelson, the Ta vern fo r all Weath -ers, th e Flower Pot. th e Hop e, theStru ggler, the Dove, and the RoyalStandard. The list fro m " Bouc-her's to Hu dson 's (Job's) Cove"including the Ship Assistance, th eAn gel. th e Agincourt, the Swa n.the Red Cow , the Jo lly Fisherman,the Blue Ba ll, the Shoul der of Mu t -ton , the White Hart. the RoyalOak, and the Soldier, T he thi rdand last divisio n of the list contain-ed the names of tave rns from"Hudson 's Cove to the easte rrnostpa rt of St. John's ." They werethe Lo ndo n T avern , the WheatSheaf. the Bird in Hand, the UnionFlag , the Butchery, the Sun, theDuke of Yor k, the T hree Crow ns,and the Plough at Brine's Bridge.

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Old St JohnsTHE QUAINT OLD-TIME TAVERNS HAD COLORFUL NAMES

Th e Lon do n T av ern was afamo us place in its day . It washere that the Benevolent Ir ish Soc-iety was o rganized and for sometim e held its m eet ings. It wa s awell-eq u ipped hostelry in every re-spect and provided "accommodatio nfo r man and beast". as th e old ad -vert ism ent s say. It had s tables. alarge yard in th e [ear o f th e tav ern .and also a billiard room and anelab orat e bar room that was th ebest in town at that period . th eearly part o f the nineteenth cen -tury. It cate red ch iefly to the up -per cla sses and to vis ito rs from for -eign countries and was generallyregarded as the best hostelry in St.John ' s,

Very few . however . of the estab-l ishments mentioned in the 1807list were "inns" in the strict senseof th e term. Very few of them .besid es d ispensing drinks. providedaccommodation for man and beast.Th ey were far different from th einn s o f Old En gland. No aura ofromance surro unded them . Forth e most part they had no spacio usya rds for coa ch es. carriage s. andwagon s : no hostl ers. no "boo ts."no rubicund . apron ed land lords :no pretty . curtsyin g chamberma ids :ve ry litt le. in fact, to fas cinate aDi ckens. a H azl i tt. or a \V ash in g-to n Irving . M ost of them we reo nly p la inl y bui lt hou ses licensed tosell liquor - som e o f them veri tabl edives-w i t h a rou gh and ready at -mosph ere abo ut them that just suit-MAY, 1957

cd th eir patron s and was co mpatib lealso w ith th e rou gh a nd read y tim esin w hic h they flour ished.

The Crown TavernLet us tak e a gla nce at o ne th at

was ty pi cal of such esta b lishmen tsin St . J o hn ' s in th e early eig h tee nt hcentury. In o utw ard ap pearance itlo ok ed no differen t from the ave r-age dw elling hou se of that period .It catered. how ever. to rather sel ectpatr on s such as Government offic -ials. Arm y and Na vy o ff icers. mer-chants and pr of essional men. andhad little welcom e for persons oflesser degr ee. It was known as th eCrown Tav ern . was situated nearthe head o f Pilot' s Hill . and waserect ed some time during the1790 s. From th e upper windowsa goo d vi ew could be had of theNarrow s and . no doubt. at a tim ewh en th e o nly co n nect io n w ith th eoutsid e w orld wa s by sea. th e en-tranc e to th e harb or mu st hav e beena con stant obje ct o f int erest. Th eCrown T av ern was a tw o -sto reystructure with a gable roo f and alarge attic w ith two bay w indow sat th e fro nt. Th e seco nd sto reyhad fou r window s faci ng th e har -bor. The gro und floor. wi th th emain door in the cent re. co ntainedtwo large room s in fr ont . one oneach side of the hall . and a lar gek itch en at th e rear. In o ne o f th elarge fron t r ooms was the bar. withshel ves fo r sto ring \,..ines and li -qu or s. and kegs co nta in ing drau ght

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beer. A number of small rabIesand chairs, and a few cheap printson the walls, completed the furnish-ings of this room. The otherroom in front contained tables andchairs and benches and a large fire-place which in winter time waspiled high with bright ly burninglogs that cast a cheerful glow overthe room. In this room many im-portant meetings were held fromtime to time and many matters dis-cussed to the clink of glasses andtankards. The keeper of theCrown back in those far-off dayswas Henry Fowles. a native ofSomerset, England, who had retiredfrom the Royal Navy after manyyears of service.

The GamecockAt the foot of Long's Hill, on

the west side where the TheatrePharmacy is now doing business,there once stood, back in the twen-ties of the last century, a well-fre-quented inn known as "The Game-cock." Its owner and proprietorwas one Peter Sullivan, a big andbelligerent native of County Cork,Ireland, who was noted for hisquickness and despatch in evictingobstreperous patrons from his pre-mises, and also for the promotionof rhrilling cock fights that tookplace in the spacious yard behindhis tavern. Peter dispensed goodrum and ale and also a prime dropof good whiskey that came over onthe emigrant ships and had neverbeen contaminated by the rod ofthe gauger. \Vith the passing yearscock-fighting fell into disrepute,and Peter Sullivan, his GamecockInn, and good ale and Irish Whis-key disappeared into the mists ofZ2

time . On the same spot was latererected the Phoenix Fire Hall.headquarters of the old PhoenixVolunteer Fire Brigade. A bell towarn people when an outbreak offire occurred was also placed thereand it was a familiar s ight unt il thedestruction of the hall itself by fireIn November of 1876.

The Bull InnNear the foot of Prescott Street.

at its junction with DuckworthStreet, and just about where theRoyal Stores building stands today,there once stood a tavern called the"Bull Inn." It was kept by oneAbraham Saunders, a carpenter bytrade and a giant in stature, for hestood six feet six inches high in hissocks and weighed two hundred andfifty pounds. Abe was of a veryquite disposition at normal timesbut when aroused he was a mightyfighting man afraid of no two menon earth. Unruly customers weregiven short-shrift by Abe, but theonly person who really threw ascare into him was his wife. a lit-tle Irish woman who tipped thescales at one hundred pounds andmore than made up for her lack ofweight by her sharp, ever-activetongue that castigated Abe at allhours of the day and night.

The Calibogus HouseAnother well-know tavern was

the "Fisherman" which was s ituat-ed at the head of Willicott's Lanenot far from the western side of theCongregational Church on Queen'sRoad. Over the door was a signdepicting a fisherman in oilskins,with sou'wester on head and pipein mouth, calmly looking from his

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at LLOYDS

CHoSBIE &CO..LTD.Agent s for

Underwri ters

The Traveller's JoyOne taver n on Water St reet inth e old days had a sign depictinga sailo r in a blue jacket and brass

buttons. with the right hand raisedaloft and beneath it the inscription ,'" fight for all ." A fishe rmanwas represented with the inscript -ion . '" pa l' for all ."At her tavern at Twenty-MilePond. Peggy Rose had the follow -ing sign over the door:" Ive trusted often to m) sorrow .Pa y today and trust tomorrow ,"

The Ship InnOne well -known house of enter-

tai nment fo r man and beast wasthe Ship Inn which stood on Duck -wo rth Street o n the site where thesto re of Cross and Company is nowsituated. Ove r the door there hunga sign with a pai nting of a full -rigged ship on it. The owner ofthe tavern was Mr s. Betty Burton.the widow of Capt. Burton of theBritish emigra nt ship Gaze lle whichmade freq uent trips fro m Br istol.Eng la nd. to Newfoundla nd andwas later lost wi th all han ds. T hi stavern was much freq uented by thecaptains and mates of vessels andby seamen in gener al. and was , inits day. the most popular seafarer'sresort in St. John 's.

were the hangovers that resultedfrom too much imbibi ng of the pot-ent Calibogus at Andy 's establish-ment. For the mor e sedate mem -bers. Andy. being of a literary turnof mind . always kept a batch ofOld Country papers on ha nd. andalthough th e papers wer e often sixmonths o ld they never lost theirsavor until a new batch arrived.

ST. JOHN'S

FIREMARINE

WATER ST.

sta nd out towards the Nar rows.The proprieto r of the ta vern wasAndy Brad y. a man of good educat-ion who at one time had been abut ler in t he Beresford mansion inWaterford. Ireland. Andy was th efou nder of the famous "CalibogusCl ub," a mysterious association thatbound its members by solemn pro -mise not to drink any liquor butrum and sp ruce beer mixed . Themixture was known as "Calibogus"and the Fisherman-or the "Cali-bogus House" as it also was k nown- was freque nted by a nu mber ofjolly seadogs and others who we remembers of the club. H igh re-vels were held there and many goodstories to ld , some of which laterfou nd their way into the local press.Da ncing. singi ng, and drinkingdeep of the flowing bow l were keptup un ti l early morn ing and man y

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At Riverhead there stood a tav-ern called the "Traveller's Joy,"The tavern was kept by one Lam-ber, crier of the Supreme Court,and had a swinging sign which heldout the following alluring invitat-ion on the town side:"Before the Traveller's Joy youpass,Step in and have a parting glass,"

And on the country side to greetthe wayfarer on his return waswritten:"Now that your journey's almostoverStep in. your spirits to recover. "

Though the practice of tavernscarrying signs had gone out in the

first half of the nineteenth century,a few public houses kept up theold custom-such as Patrick Mul-lowney's Golden Stag's Head andMrs, Leamy's tavern which stoodon the site of the present day Muir'sMarble Works. The sign over thedoor of Mrs, Leamy's showed theresailors dancing around a demuredamsel who held a well-filled de-canter in her hand. It was pro-bably the last of the old tavernsigns- a nd the merry maiden andthe jolly tars have gone the way ofall who lived, laughed, loved, andtoiled in their time and whose sign-boards can now be found only inthe various cemeteries of the city.

We havea IMilLION oflhem.It has always seemed to us that thefirst Function of any advertisementis to get itself read,People do not bave to read aduer-tisements. Therefore any art or de-vice, even as simple and inexpensiveas this adoettisement was to prepare.commands more attention than justcold type,

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ag_v14n05 (inns of old st johns)

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