![]() ![]() ![]() A temperance advocate suggested tavern signs should bear truthful names such as “The Widow and Orphans Manufactory” or “The New England Rum Pit.” As towns outlawed the sale of liquor, many old tavern signs were pulled down and replaced with signs saying Temperance Hotel.Īs taverns declined, nostalgia began to develop for their Days of Olde when jolly hosts greeted guests and ushered them inside to sip hot toddies at the fireplace. The decline of the tavern was hastened by the temperance movement in the 1830s and 1840s which saw them as dens of iniquity. This undoubtedly accounts for the many taverns called The White Horse, The Beehive, The Three Crowns, or The Bunch of Grapes.īy the start of the 19th century the reign of taverns was slowly coming to an end and being replaced by larger hotels. Artists who painted them often advertised that they had a stock of signs on hand and ready to go except for the lettering. Tavern signs have often been admired for their originality, but even in the 18th century they were stereotyped. ![]() For example, a Boston tavern keeper of the 1760s named Francis Warden advertised that he kept a “public house of entertainment” at the sign of the Green Dragon. Proprietors might move from tavern to tavern but signs stayed where they were. Taverns actually had dual names, the proprietor’s and that of the image on the sign. Animals of various colors were especially popular such as the White Swan, the Golden Horse, the Black Bear, or the Red Lion. Borrowed from England and Europe, they depicted images of military heroes, courtly symbols, and local landmarks, with names to match. One of the most prominent features of taverns were their signboards. But they also supplied inspiration to eating places in later centuries, particularly tea rooms and, to a lesser extent, steak houses. Taverns and inns of the Colonial and Early American eras were ancestors to hotels, providing the all-important trio of beds, food, and alcoholic drinks. ![]()
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