Essex County, Massachusetts - Chapter 20, 1888

Chapter 20

Character nf the Old Houses oj Entertainment, and Scenes Enacted in Them - Biographical Sketches of some Famous Landlords - Incldenls of Travel - Salem and Boston Turnpike - The Old Stage Lines - Opening of the Eastern liailroad - Hotels of Later Times.

" Around the glowing evening fire, The farmer, woodsman, village 'squire, With pointed finger, loosened tongue, Shows right for every human wrong. In kindling mood they sit and sip The nectar called New England flip, That late invented beverage, Bare product of a guzzling age, America's first evil gift To help the world in toping thrift, More sapid than old England's beer. More potent in its vulgar cheer."

Next to the church and the school, the attention of our fathers was directed to the establishment and regulation of the ordinary, the inn, the tavern, or the house of entertainment, as such places seem to have been indiscriminately called. The accommodation of travelers was, of course, the ostensible purpose ; but other considerations had weight. In the old country the settlers had been accustomed to visit such resorts,

"... where nut-brown draughts inspired, Where gray-beard mirth and smiling toil retired ; Where village .statesmen talked with looks profound," and where neighborhood scandal and tainted gossip no doubt went round. What wonder, then, that the settlers here, the socially high and low, the good and bad, should, in the absence of other convenient meeting-places, have felt the need of something of the kind. There were no newspapers to float off from the press on the morning and evening wind, no news-rooms, no mail, no telegraphs, no telephones. Hither, then, all classes naturally resorted

There was, in the more legitimate way, to wit, the accommodation of travelers, a real necessity for houses of entertainment. But it was soon perceptible that such establishments required careful watching, lest their charges should become oppressive and their influence deleterious in a moral way. The General Court, therefore, found it necessary frequently to interpose for their management.

It is true, however, that before population had so far increased as to warrant the establishment of separate ordinaries, every house was, to some extent, a house of entertainment, and every householder a host. This was the natural prompting of the hospitable settler.

At first, ordinaries were established without license ; but the court soon took them in hand and regulated their management. As early as 1634 it was " ordered that noe person that keeps an ordinary shall take above six pence a meale for a person and not above one penny for an ale quarte of beare, out of meale tyme, under the penalty of ten shillings for every offence, either of dyot or beare." It was likewise ordered that " victualers or keepers of an ordinary, shall not suffer any tobacco to be taken in their bowses, under the penalty of v shillings for every offence, to be paid by the vituler, and xii pence by the party who takes it." And the court, in their horror of tobacco, went much further, forbidding its use anywhere in public, and even invaded the domestic sanctuary, ordering that "noe person shall take tobacco publiquely, under the penalty of 2s. and 6ciJ. ; nor privately, in his owne howse, or in the howse of another, before strangers, and that two or more shall not take it togeather anywhere, vnder the aforesaid penalty for every offence." What would those worthy old legislators think could they enter one of our offensive modern railroad attachments, the smoking-car? As late as 1639 it was lawful for any person to entertain strangers with " lodging and dyot, at reasonable rates," on special occasions, such as an inflow of strangers.

And at the same court it was enacted that " every towne shall have liberty, from time to time, to choose a fitt man to sell wine, the same to bee alowed by license . . . and that it shalbee lawfull for such persons alowed to retaile wine, to let wine bee drunke in his house; provided, that if any person shalbee made drunke in any such house, or any imoderate drinking suffered there, the master of tlie family shall pay fur every such offence five pounds." At the same time it was " further declared and ordered, that such as are alowed to keepe comon ordinaries and inns shall provide stables and hay for horses, and inclosures for pasturing, where neede is ; and it is further declared, that if any shall take excessive prices for their wines or dyeting, they shalbee deepely fined for the same." So began the licensing system and the temperance legislation of Massachusetts ; and how do we stand, after the lapse of two hundred and fifty years?

The first tavern in Lynn was opened by Joseph Armitage, though at what precise date does not satisfactorily appear. But in 1043 he seems to have been in the business long enough to run himself ashore ; for in that year his wife, Jane, presented a dolorous petition, reciting that her husband's labors and endeavors had " beene blasted and his ames and ends frustrated," that they were poor and had a family to maintain ; that some of his creditors had, of their " clemencie and gentle goodness," lent a helping hand, with more of such pathetic pleading, and praying that she might be allowed to " continue in the custodie of the said ordinary." The petition was signed by about all of the best and most prominent men of the town, among them the two ministers, Samuel Whiting and Thomas Cobbet, and Robert Bridges, the acting magistrate. It was successful, the concise entry on the court records being " Goody Armitage is alowed to keepe the ordinary, but not to draw wine."

There is ground for suspicion that some of the causes of Mr. Armitage's misfortunes lay in the disregard of his license obligations; for, in addition to the refusal of the court to allow his wife to sell spirits, it is found that he was once fined for not informing the constable of a person being found drunk in his company. He petitioned to have the fine remitted, but the court replied that they saw " no cawse to abate the petitioner any part of that fine."

Mr. Armitage, however, seems to have partially, at least, recovered from his depressed condition, for in 1646 the court say : " In answere to y'' petition of Joseph Armitage, it is ordred, that whoever y"^ towne of Linn shall choose at a legall towne meeting to draw wine, he shall have liberty to drawe wine there till y® next siting of this Cort, and y'' same to be presented hereunto." And subsequently comes this entry : "Joseph Armitage is agreed with for this yeare for liberty to sell wine for twenty nobles." The price of his license, then, was about $32.20 of our present money.

The ordinary of Mr. Armitage soon became known as the Anchor Tavern, and under that name commenced a famous career. It was picturesquely situated on a slight elevation west of Saugus River, almost within a stone's throw of that eccentrically winding stream, and commanded a romantic view of forest and marsh land, with the ocean upon the south. It was on the road leading from Sa'em to Boston and aboul midway between those settlements. For more than a century and a half it enjoyed a reputation attained by few establishments of the kind in the colony. Its name, however, was changed from time to time, as political revolution or caprice of landlord suggested.

Being on one of the chief highways, it was of course a stopping-place for the refreshment of travelers of high and low degree, of official dignitaries and rustic tramps, and one can readily conceive that strangely-assorted groups must have sometimes assembled there.

Mr. Armitage was among the very early settlers of Lynn, having appeared here in 1630, and been admitt^-d as a freeman in 1637. He was a tailor by trade, but in those primitive times it was necessary for most men to turn their attention to different pursuits as the seasons varied. He was undoubtedly energetic and industrious, but those good traits do not appear to have saved him from disasters attributable to other traits less valuable, for it is evident that he was of a speculative turn, and unduly credulous when promising schemes were presented. And then, again, he appears to have been fond of lawsuits. Now these two pernicious characteristics - fondness for speculation and fondness for law-suits - are enough to ruin any man, and in all but a few exceptional cases they do. It may also be fairly assumed that he had sufficient of a retaliatory spirit to defiantly meet the aggressive approaches of his neighbors. At one time he procured a warrant against a number of persons, to whose intei'ference he j^robably attributed difficulties regarding his license ; but they, in returning the compliment, had him presented " for procuring a warrant for seaventy persons to appear forthwithe before the Governor," a proceeding which, the court say, "we conceave to be of dangerous consequence." Notwithstanding these propensities, however, it may be said that he was, on the whole, a useful as well as enterprising settler.

Mr. Armitage ceased to be landlord of the Anchor in or about 1652. And his harassed and laborious life was ended in reduced circumstances, though perhaps not in absolute penury. In 1669 he petitioned for the payment of some small scores that Governors Endicott and Bradstreet and other officials had run up at his tavern during their journeyings. His petition was presented to the court at Salem, the charges having stood some twenty years, and reads as follows :

"To Uie Hollered Court now sitting at Sallem. The humble petition of Joseph Armitage Humbly Sheweth that in the time that I kept Ordinary ther was sum expences at ray Hows by some of the Honored magistrates & Depetysof this County as apeai-s by ther bills charged oupon Auditor Generall, which I never Receaued. Therfor jour Humbell peticioner doth Humbly request this Court that they would give me an Order to the County Treasurer for my jiay & so your pour petitioner shall ever pray for your prosperity.

"the gouerners Expences from the Coart of election, 1651, till the end of October, 1651 ; to bear & cacks [beer and cakes] 6d. ; bear and cack8 to himself and 8om other gentllemen. Is. 2d. ; bear and cacks with Mr. Downing, Is. 6d. ; bear & a cack, 6d. - 38. 8d.

" to the Sargents from the end of the Coart of election, 1651, till the end of October, 1651, bear & cacks, Is. 2d. ; for vitalls, beear & logen, 5s. ; to Benjamin Scarlet, the gouerners man, 8d. ; bear & vitells, 2s. ; to the Sargents, Is. 9d. ; beear and cacks. Is. ; to a man that Caried a letter to warne a Court about the duchman, Is. 6d. ; to the Sargents, Is. 2d. - 148. .-Jd.

" due to goodman Armitage, for beare & wyne att severall times as I came by in the space of about 3 yeares, 4s. 3d. May 15th, '49. More for my man & horse, as bee returned home the last yeare when I was a Commissioner, hee being deteyned a sabboath day, 68. Sd.

What does our present good Secretary of War think of the expenses and fare of his worthy ancestor as he took his official journeys ? Even President Cleveland, with all his democratic proclivities, would hardly hold to such economy.

After leaving the Anchor, Mr. Armitage lived in comparative retirement till his death, in 1G80, at the age of eighty years. In the administration account filed in July, occur these items : " For coffio, vaile and digging the grave, 14s. In wine and sider, for his buriall, £2."

The immediate successor of Mr. Armitage as landlord of the Anchor Tavern was John Hathorne, who certainly does not appear to have been a very meritorious character. At all events he became involved in one or two questionable transactions. It must have been about the time that he took the tavern that he was proceeded against on a charge of slander, forgery and perjury, and was convicted. He became somewhat humbled by his sentence, and petitioned for the remission or mitigation of the penalty, and the court in its clemency ordered that in lieu of the prescribed punishment he should " pay double damages, which is twenty pounds, to the party wronged and ten pounds to the commonwealth, to be forthwith levied ; and to be disfranchised. If he doth not submitt to the sentence, then the law that provides against flforgery is to take place in every particular."

Mr. Hathorne kept the Anchor but a short time, and nothing appears to indicate that the house did not continue as prosperous as in the days of his predecessor. But little concerning him appears on the records, though the matters alluded to gave rise to grave questions of jurisdiction between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, - questions that agitated the community for a long time, occasioning some rasping passages between church and state dignitaries.

This brings us to one of the most remarkable periods in the history of the famous Anchor : to wit., the period during which the renowned Captain Thomas Marshall managed its affairs. He was one of the most jolly and hospitable of landlords, and during his administration no wayside inn throughout the colonies enjoyed a more enviable reputation.

Captain Marshall first appeared in Lynn in 1635, and was soon after admitted a freeman. But when the great political agitations that led to the termination of the reign and the life of Charles the First had reached the culminating point, his spirit was aroused and he returned to England, where he joined the Parliamentary forces, and from Cromwell received a captain's commission. He served faithfully and was honorably discharged, and returned hither full of martial lustre and full of pride in the feats he had accomplished, some of which his envious neighbors affected to believe were achievements of the imagination alone. Nevertheless, it is apparent that he had a very good knowledge of military tactics and skill in the disposition of affairs of the field. The simple fact of his having continued to serve as a captain under the great Parliamentary Leader so long and so satisfactorily is sufficient evidence of his skill, fidelity and efficiency. He indeed seems to have had an early inclination for the military profession, and was elected a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company - or, as it was then called, the "Military Company of the Massachusetts" - in 1640, two years after the formation of that august organization, being then about twenty-four years of age.

After Captain Marshall's return from the war, his fellow-townsmen six times elected him as their representative in the General Court, first in 1659 and last in 1668, and likewise called him to various posts of municipal honor and responsibility.

On the 18th of October, 1659, Captain Marshall was empowered by the General Court to join in marriage such persons in Lynn as had complied with the preliminary legal requirements. In 1670, however, he was discharged from " officyating in that imployment," probably much to his chagrin. The cause of the revocation of his authority seems to have been that, through his " overmuch credulity," jiarties had imposed upon him and induced him to marry them when their intention had not been properly published or other legal requirements complied with. One or two cases were presented against him, that ofAllin and Deacon being perhaps the most conspicuous. It occurred in May, 1670. Says the record : " Hope Allin (father of the bride) and John Pease (a witness) ai^peared in Court, and y^ said John Pease acknouledged that notwithstanding the counsell of the major general (an acting magistrate of another jurisdiction), who had declined y"' marrying of M^ Deacon (the bridegroom) to Hope Allin's daughter, he did accompany them to Lynn to Capt. Marshall, and Hope Allin declared he did give his consent that the said M"'. Deacon should have his daughter, and told Capt. Marshall that he hoped they might be legally published before that time. The Court judged it meet to censure the said Hope Allin to pay ten pounds as a fine to the country for his irregular proceedure, and John Pease forty shillings." Perhaps Mr. Allin was justly punished for his over-anxiety to get his daugh- ter off his hands, and Mr. Pease for standing by and not disclosing the fact that another magistrate had refused to tie the knot illegally. And as to Captain Marshall, it was probably this case that induced the court to promptly annul his commission, for that appears to have been done almost immediately after the irregular transaction. At this time ministers were not authorized to perform the marriage ceremony, yet the conjugal relation was not regarded on the one hand as a mere civil contract, nor on the other, in the highchurch sense, a sacrament. The idea seemed to be that it should occupy a sort of middle ground. The captain, however, did not probably pause to consider as to the right or wrong of the cases that came before him, or to theorize in any way, so long as it was in his power to consummate the happiness of loving hearts.

Captain Marshall commanded the military company of Lynn at the time the great King Philip War commenced, 1675. There was no period in our whole history when there seemed so much cause for alarm within our own precincts, which had always been singularly free from savage aggression, as now, and the bravest and most experienced of the soldiery were anxiously looked to for protection. The court received a letter from the major-general dated Lynn, and in their answer say : " Sr : Wee received your letter dated at Lynn 23th instant, and have perused the particulars inclosed, which still present us with sad tidings (the Lord have mercy on us) touching the l^erformance of yo'' promise to Major Pike in your designe to raise what force you can to resist the enemy's headquarters at Ausebee. Wee approove of it, only wee presume your intelligence that the enemy is there is upon good grounds. Wee cannot give yow particular orders, but leave the management of this affayre to yo"" prudenc and assistance of Almighty God, not doubting yo' care in leaving sufficient strength to secure the frontier townes of Norfolke and Essex, least the enemy should visit them when the fforces are abooard. Without doubt, if their squawes and pappooses, &c., be at Assabee, and God be pleased to deliver them into our hands, it would be much for our interest. As for your personall marching, it will be acceptable, if God inable to prosecute it." The action recommended in regard to the squaws and pappooses does not sound very pleasantly in the ears of the sympathetic people of this day, but the peculiar dangers and threatenings of those dark times should be taken into account in estimating the character of the recommendation. Captain Marshall was at this time about sixty years of age, but it cannot be doubted that his martial spirit was at once aglow, and that he became active in the military council, if not in the field. A most creditable number of soldiers were immediately on the march from Lynn.

A sad event occurred near the tavern on a dreary night in February, 1681. Samuel Worcester, a representative to the General Court from Bradford, had walked from that town to attend an adjourned session. When he reached Captain Marshall's ever hospitable door he was chilled and extremely weary, and sought shelter and entertainment. But from some cause he could not be accommodated. Thinking that he might find lodging with a friend farther on, he departed. In the morning he was found in a kneeling posture, in the middle of the road, dead. He was a son of Rev. William Worcester, and distinguished for his public spirit and his piety. No doubt the event caused the Captain hours of keen regret.

The worthy Captain dispensed the hospitalities of the famous Anchor for forty years. He was a model landlord, attentive to guests, well versed in the political and religious movements of the time, both here and in old England, and able to intelligently discuss all the stirring questions that then agitated the assembly in the village tap-room as well as that in the hall of legislation. And he seems to have had a good share of that sort of suave underflow, so agreeable to the temporary sojourner at the wayside inn. That he had foibles is likewise apparent ; but they appear to have been rather attractive than displeasing. John Dunton, the London bookseller, who passed through Lynn in 1686, and who was an uncle to the celebrated John Wesley, thus remarks in his journal: "About two of the clock I reached Capt. Marshall's house, which is half way between Boston and Salem ; here I staid to refresh nature with a pint of sack and a good fowl. Capt. Marshall is a hearty old gentleman, formerly one of Oliver's soldiers, upon which he very much values himself He had all the history of the civil wars at his fingers' ends, and if we may believe him, Oliver did hardly anything that was considerable without his assistance ; and if I'd have staid as long as he'd have talked, he'd have spoiled my ramble to Salem." This genial old landlord died on the 23d of December, 1689, at the age of seventy-three years.

It is not difficult to picture in the mind scenes such as must have again and again taken place in and about the Anchor during the administration of the worthy captain. Being deeply interested in military affairs he could highly enjoy the parades of the colonial soldiery ; and when he wa^ himself in command, it cannot be doubted that, on many occasions, the troops were summoned to perform their evolutions upon the green that sloped from his house down towards the river bank. We can almost see him there, with drawn sword and commanding voice, ordering movements such as enabled him, with Oliver's assistance, to win such victories in the civil wars. And there we see him stationing here and there behind some rock or in a forest confine mock Indian squads, to show the modes of savage warfare and teach his troops to meet the dusky warrior's strategy.

Again, on occasions when the Colonial Governor undertook his eastern tour, as was customary once a year, important was the day of his arrival at the

Anchor. Early in the morning His Excellency would appear, on horseback, with gilded trappings glistening in the sun, accompanied by his secretary - one who in this day might be called a reporter - and perhaps two or three other dignitaries, the procession flanked by half a score of halberdiers, preceded by a mounted trumpeter, and perhaps followed by a throng of amazed red men.

Arrived at the Anchor, after partaking of refreshments, always the best that the cellar or the larder afforded, the Governor, seated in the most capacious chair, announced his readiness to receive all such townsmen as desired to meet him for a free interchange of views on the condition of public affairs, especially as bearing on their own local well-being. These discussions were dignified, and, no doubt, resulted in much good to individual communities, and possibly matters of private interest were sometimes cunningly interwoven to personal advantage.

Another picture might discover an excited assembly at the Anchor, perhaps in the stirring time of the Andros administration, the discordant voices of the blustering group in the common room rising above the surly creaking of the signboard that sways in the blast without. Some are urging to immediate and determined acts of violence, clamorously declaring their readiness to join in any uprising that shall hurl every would-be oppressor from power, while the more peacefully inclined and the village sages counsel patience and moderation.

The scene may shift to a winter night, dreary without but cheerful within. Before the blazing oaken logs and upon the rude benches that line the wall are seated the worn farmer, the fisherman, the woodsman and the laborer of every degree. Unambitious and void of care, they sit drowsily gossiping, and occasionally drawing forth from its concealment the corn-cob pipe for a languid whiff, till the fire burns low and the parting mug goes round.

But a prettier picture is that presented when the bright moonbeams glisten on the crusted snow, and the capacious ox-sled, with its boxed-in freight of happy youth, drives up. Its approach had been heralded by the wave of maiden laughter that rippled over the white fields, and the captain has donned his best doublet and prepared his best cheer. The sanded parlor is radiant with tallow dips, and savory fumes float from the culinary precinct. It is a time of rare enjoyment with the gallant captain. He is young again, and cannot avoid frequently joining in the merry sports. And then, as he retires to the duties of the snug little banquet-room, behold him beckon a young man aside and slyly and half by signs intimate that up over those winding back-stairs, in the attic hall, there is a bright fire and clean floor, where a little private dance may be enjoyed.

Zacheus Norwood, who died February 8, 1756, - if the stone in the old burying-ground bearing the name is erected to his rnemory, - kept it for many years, and it ceased to be called the Anchor. His wife, Susanna, died January 2, 1747, but he married again, and his widow succeeded him in the management and afterwards became the wife of Josiah Martin. The house was long famous as " Norwood's Tavern."

The matrimonial adventures of Mr. Norwood seera to have been of a varied charactei'. In the record of intentions of marriage, as copied by Mr. John T. Moulton, is to be found these entries, Mr. Moulton remarking that a pen has been drawn across them : "June 2, 1734. This may certify that whereas the intention of marriage betwixt Zacheus Norwood and Mary Eichards, both of Lynn, was posted by me the above day ; that on the 3d day of June, 1734, the above said Mary Richards forbid the banns." . . . "December 3, 1734. The above-named Mary Richards came to me and told me she had re-considered her forbidding the banns of matrimony betwixt Zacheus Norwood and herself, and desired me to give him a certificate." Whatever the difficulty was, it appears to have been amicably settled, for on the 13th of the next February they were married. She died on the 6th of April, 1736. On the 27th of October, 1745, was published his intention of marriage with Susannah Bunnell, of Topsfield. They were soon after married, and she died January 2, 1747. His third wife was Lydia Burrage, whom he married April 19, 1750. It was she who survived him, kept the tavern herself for some time, and then married the wayward Josiah Martin.

In 1759 that laborious, worthy and much-suffering frontier Church of England missionary. Rev. Jacob Bailey, on the 13th of December, reached here on his way to Boston, having walked all the way from Gloucester. He found a rough company, who much disturbed his needed rest. "We had among us," he said, "a soldier belonging to Captain Hazen's company of rangers, who declared that several Frenchmen were barbariously murdered by them, after quarters were given ; and the villain added, I suppose to show his importance, that he split the head of one asunder, after he had fell on his knees to implore mercy." Captain Hazen never taught his men any such savage ways, for he was one of the most humane as well as brave commanders. He was a native of Haverhill, and had a command in the Crown Point and Louisburg expeditions in 1758 and '59. It was in one of these, no doubt, that the villainous act of the boastful soldier occurred. Captain Hazen also distinguished himself under Wolfe, at Quebec, and as a commander in the Revolution. He was finally commissioned as a brigadier-general in the Continental forces. Dr. Jonathan Norwood, a graduate of Harvard, was a son of Zacheus, the keeper of the tavern.

Lynn

drifted into Lynn a soldier of fortune by the name of JosiAH Martin". He was supposed to be an Englishman, but little, if anything, was known of his previous life. He, however, found f;\vor in the eyes of Widow Norwood, and she married him. He was very eccentric, and by his waywardness of temper and instability of character is believed to have led her a very uncomfortable life. He evidently knew how to behave much better than he did, for at times he would act well the role of a polished gentleman. At other times he would pretend to be a most humble and devout Christian. Mrs. Martin seems to have continued in the chief management of the tavern, though he was ostensibly the keeper. Many anecdotes are told of his witty sallies, and he was by no means destitute of humor. He was much given to practical jokes, as well as witticisms. Rev. Mr. Treadwell was minister of the old church at that time, and himself fond of indulging in witty sallies. Mr. Lewis says that on a certain Sunday, observing that many of his audience had their heads in a reclining posture, he paused in his sermon and exclaimed, " I should guess that as many as two-thirds of you are asleep !" Mr. Martin, raising his head, looked round and replied, " If I were to guess, I should guess there are not more than one-half!" The next day Mr. Martin was brought up for disturbing divine service, but he contended "it was not the time of divine service ; the minister had ceased to j^reach, and it was guessing time.'' He was accordingly discharged. It is said that he once rod^ two miles to attend meeting on a warm June Sunday, in a double sleigh, with a span of horses, the dust flying and the runners grating horribly and striking fire at every step. And his wife was a forced passenger by his side, wrapped in a heavy bear- skin robe. However, she was not long subjected to his harassing impositions, for on the breaking out of the Revolution he enlisted in the Continental army, marched off, and was never heard from afterward.

John Adams, subsequently President of the United States, but then a young lawyer traveling his circuit, accompanied by his wife, mentions, under date of November 3, 1766, having "oated'' at Martin's, on his way to attend the court at Salem. And returning a few days after, he again "oated" at Martin's, "where we saw," he add-, " five boxes of dollars, containing, as we were told, about eighteen thousand of them, going in a horse-cart from Salem Custom-House to Boston, in order to be shipped to England. A guard of armed men, with swords, hangers, pistols and muskets attended."

This brings us to another important period in the history of this famous tavern, to wit, the commencement of the Revolution. It was now that Jacob Newhall became landlord, and for many years onward it was known as Newhall's Tavern, as is shown by the newsjiapers and other dingy publications of the day. Mr. Newhall was a native of the town, and a descendant from one of the first settlers, was then about thirty-five years of age, and had previously pursued the occupation of husbandman. Being an ardent son of liberty, one of his first acts was to remove tlie sign on which was pictured the British emblem of the lion and unicorn, that had swayed for some years from the post in front, and substitute the hopeful emblem of a rising sun. He was a most liberal provider, and unwearied in his endeavors to make his house a real " traveler's home." During the war his enengies were often taxed to their utmost to make suitable provision for the unexpected descent of a squad or even an entire company of hungry soldiers. So vigilant was he that it is said he did not for some years retire to bed, but obtained fitful rest in an armchair. To be ready for emergencies, he kept on hand fatted cattle that might be promjitly slaughtered, and their flesh hastily cooked in the great boilers he had set. His kitchen garden comprised six acres, and under his skillful management yielded an inexhaustible store for summer use, as well as a surplus to be added to his field crops for use at other seasons. He was extremely benevolent toward his needy neighbors, and especially to the families of soldiers who had marched to the war. Even the vagrant tramp was not sent empty away. Among other notable guests during the administration of Mr. Newhall was President Washington, who paused here in October, 1788, as he was proceeding eastward. And four years before, 1784, Gen. Lafayette made a halt there.

Mr. Newhall continued landlord till 1807, a period of more than thirty years; and then, the infirmities of age having somewhat impaired his physical powers, he retired. But he still continued to labor to some extent as a farmer till near the end of his life, which took place on the 18th of June, 1816, at the age of seventy-six. One of his generous disjjosition could hardly be expected to accumulate much, and he appears to have died in rather reduced circumstances, though not in penury.

It is evident from contemporary accounts that this tavern was, during the Revolution, one of the most notable in these parts. Being on the great road along which flowed the travel from all places east of Boston, and having established an unimpeachable name for hospitality, it was never disregarded by the marching soldier or the traveling civilian.

Under various names and different landlords for some time after the retirement of Landlord Newhall the house continued to dispense its hospitalities. But a cloud came over its prospects. The turnpike from Salem to Boston - the portion in Lynn being what is now known as Western Avenue - was opened in 1803, and rapidly diverted the travel from the old road.

As the "Anchor" was situated just within what is now the town of Saugus, then a part of Lynn, its history will not be overlooked in the sketch of that town, and doubtless many racy and captivating details will be added to what is here given.

From quite early times there had been other houses of entertainment in different parts of the town; but none of them came to be of much account. There was " Ward's Tavern " (which possibly may have been the old "Anchor," bearing another name for a short time before Mr. Norwood assumed the keepership). It was in 1750 tiiat a New York merchant stopped here while traveling eastward. He remarks that he put up at Mr. Ward's, in " Lyn, which is a small country town of about two hundred houses, very pleasantly situated, and affords a beautiful rural prospect." He arrived at about one o'clock and " dyn'd on fryd codd." After dinner, being refreshed by a glass of wine, he pursued his journey to Salem, " through a barren, rocky country," and the next day, after visiting Marblehead, returned to Boston, stopping again at Mr. Ward's, where he " dyned upon a fine mongrel goose."

Timothy Tomlins was licensed in 1636 to "keepe a house of intertainment." He was a farmer and a man of probity, but his house did not attain much celebrity as a stopping-place for travelers, it being somewhat remote from the great traveled road. He was among those who commenced the settlement of Southampton, L. L, in 1640, but did not remain there. He was also one of the Cambridge land proprietors. The extensive range of low forest land and tangled bog lying a short distance northwest of Dungeon Rock, in our Lynn woods, and still known as Tomlins's Swamp, was a part of his estate. He was thirteen times a representative in the General Court, and in other positions faithfully served the town. In 1634 he was appointed overseer of the " powder and shott and all other amunicon " of the plantation.

In the early part of the Revolution there was a tavern kept in the old house at the corner of Federal and Marion Streets. The landlord was Increase Newhall, and it was used as an alarm station - that is, a place at which, when an alarm occurred, the enrolled men in the district instantly reported for duty. At one time, in 1776, there was a midnight alarm that the English had landed at King's Beach. There was presently great commotion throughout the town, for the meeting-house bell and the drums had spread the alarm to all quarters. At the tavern station here spoken of the men promptly rallied, but the commander was not visible. They, however, quickly marched under other orders. It proved to be a false alarm, and they all returned safe. And then, to their amusement, the pusillanimous commander emerged from an oven in which, panic-stricken, he had been concealed. It was during this alarm that Frederick Breed, who lived in the vicinity, displayed so much courage and tact in rallying the men and marching them to the supposed point of danger that he received a commission in the army, and finally rose to the rank of colonel.

We now come down to the time when the old Lynn Hotel was erected. This establishment became quite as famous as had been the Anchor in its palmiest days.

It was in 1803 that the Turnpike leading from Salem to Boston was opened, making the shortest and most direct route for the eastern travel to reach the metropolis. Then old Boston Street, which had so long been the chief highway through Lynn, was doomed to lose its prestige, its honors and much of its thrift. When the building of the Turnpike was projected there was much croaking and headshaking, as there always is when great improvements are proposed. One good man, for instance, testified that at some point where the route lay over the salt marshes, he had run a pole down twenty-five feet! It was an expensive road, but was soon made a very good one. By the charter it was to revert to the commonwealth when the proprietors had received the whole cost, with twelve per cent, interest. Accordingly, in 1869, legislative action being had, it became a public highway. That part lying in Lynn is now called Western Avenue, and affords a fine, level driveway of several miles, say from the hills of old Chelsea to the Floating Bridge in Lynn, with the exception of Farrington's Hill. In the old days of horse-racing, the portion lying over the marshes southwest of the hotel was the scene of some famous races. It was there that Major Standpole's "Old Blue " won his vaunted victory, trotting three miles in eight minutes and forty-two seconds. This was on the 6th of September, 1816, and is said to have been the first horse-trot in the country. Of late years equine contests of a different sort are held in the portion of the avenue lying immediately northeastward from the hotel. On every pleasant day in winter, when thei'e is good sleighing, numerous gay turnouts, drawn by the fleetest steeds of which the town can boast, and many from other towns, may be seen there in friendly trials of speed. And a merry time have the excited spirits, young and old.

Immediately after the opening of the Turnpike the post-office, which had been kept on Boston Street, near the corner of North Federal, was removed to the southern end of Federal Street, where it joined the turnpike, as the mails would come that way, and business began to gather in the same quarter.

Lynn Hotel was built during the year in which the Turnpike was opened - 1803. The most extensively known landlord was Andrew S. Breed, the elder. He took the house in 1813, and under his supervision it attained an enviable reputation, especially for the excellence of its table and the promptness with which the largest demands of guests would be met. He was a very stirring man and recognized by every one in the streets, as he sallied forth on his brawny roadster, in his yellow top-boots and coat of sporting cut. In addition to his large business at the hotel he did a good deal of farming, and many of us can well re- member the jolly husking-parties which in harvesttime assembled at his bidding to divest the yellow ears of their rustling robes, and at evening received our reward in the banquet of baked beans and Indian jjudding, with relays of apples and cider. He was not a man who could pass noiselessly through the world, or who could yield much to what he deemed the unreasonable demands of those about him ; in short, he was of what is called an arbitrary disposition, rather boisterous in language, and strict in his requirements of those in service under him. No lazy man's excuses ever weighed with him. Mr. Breed was father of the filth mayor of Lynn.

It was to this hotel that True Moody, the colored out-door servant, so long and so well known to travelers by his alert attentions, and so much esteemed for his obliging disposition, was attached for some forty years. In person he was stout, and possessed in a well-developed form all the physical peculiarities of the African race. His mouth was capacious and answered the novel purpose of a temporary savingsbank, for in it he was accustomed to deposit the pecuniary gratuities that were sometimes lavishly bestowed by guests, till he could find time to remove them to a more suitable place, or till he required his mouth for a more legitimate purpose. And there is an account of a wager by some young men as to the amount of silver change in his mouth at a given time. To determine the bet, he consented, wi*h his usual good nature, to discharge the deposits into a bowl, when they were found to amount to a little more than five dollars, the whole being in small pieces. By his gains in this humble way he was enabled to secure a comfortable home and respectably support a family. By the failure of the Nahant Bank, in 1836, he lost some hundreds of dollars. And by the Eastern Railroad, which was built soon after, diverting the travel from the hotel quarter, his income was greatly reduced. It is said that at this depressing period he was accustomed to retire to a corner of the deserted stable and weep. He died on the 17th of June, 1855, at a rather advanced age, though probably far below that of ninety-seven years, as some of the newspapers asserted. It is not likely that he or any one else knew his exact age.

The history of old Lynn Hotel, which remained so I long in such high repute, is, perhaps, more full of stirring incident than that of almost any other establishment of the kind in this quarter of the country. The leading men of the nation - Presidents and Governors - traveling statesmen, scholars and men of leisure from other lands, were here entertained, as well as the roving multitude of tradesmen and others of every calling and profession. Many a great statesmen, military hero and orator has addressed the assembled multitudes from the little balcony over the southern door, and the writer of this sketch, by memory's aid, plainly sees the commanding form of President Jackson firmly poised, as he addresses the enthusiastic throng, his sententious oratory more than half drowned by the prolonged cheering. From that modest balcony, too, has many and many a time irradiated the choice eloquence of the ambitious local politician.

An idea of the extent of the travel by stage at about this time may be gathered from the fact that in 1836 twenty-three stages left Lynn Hotel for Boston daily, and there were also usually several extras. They belonged to the Salem and Eastern lines. These were the brightest days of the old stage-coach, and the gaudy ones of the Salem Line and the more lumbering ones from the east drew up at those hospitable portals at all hours, that the passengers might alight for the relief of their cramped limbs, and, perhaps, for a little convivial entertainment at the bar, the jolly drivers shouting their brief orders with diplomatic unction. Private carriages, baggagewagons and teams of all descriptions, too, were constantly passing and pausing. And for baiting and protection from inclement weather, an unbroken line of horse-sheds extended along the whole eastern side of Centre Street, from North Common to the Turnpike, and sometimes every one of them was occupied, with an overplus hitched to posts on either side of the house.

For about thirty-five years from the time the Turnpike was opened and the hotel built, incidents which had drawn the tide of travel from old Boston Street, there was a business activity and enterprise centering thereabout such as one who has known Lynn for only the last twenty years can hardly realize. The post-ofl5ce was there, and so were the principal stores, the lawyers and many of the largest manufacturers. The shoe manufacturers of those days, by the way, did not congregate about a common centre, as they now do, but were planted in every neighborhood. The manner in which the business was then conducted made it just as well and more economical. The old-time shoemaker has disappeared, and shoemaking machinery taken his place, so that now, as a necessity, large numbers of workmen must assemble together in huge factories. Combinations, such as Lasters' Unions and Knights of Labor assemblies, could hardly have been formed in the days when only half a dozen worked together in the little shops that, standing widely asunder, dotted our whole territory. Those were days of individual independence, individual responsibility and unfettered efibrt for individual advancement.

Foot-journeying was much more common in those days than in these railroad times, when it is more economical to ride. The cost of riding was then a material item, especially as there was no considerable saving of time, for a smart pedestrian would often reach Boston about as soon as a " slow coach " or slugo-ish horse. The turnpike on some great occasions, like, for instance, a famous military parade or an execution, swarmed with j^edestriaus, and there

It need not be said tliat in the early days of the Anchor, travel by horseback and sometimes even by bull back was, in a great measure, necessary, for the roads were stumpy, stony and gullied, so that wh'-eled vehicles, if any had them, could be but little used. When a journey could be accomplished by water, however, that mode was usually adopted, the light Indian skifl' proving remarkably serviceable where the course lay near the shore. Jonathan Dickenson, of Philadelphia, in a letter to William Smith, February, 1697, says " In 14 days we have an answer from Boston, once a week from New York, once in three weeks from Maryland, and once a month from Virginia." Then came various kinds of lumbering conveyances; but it was many years before regular lines of any sort of conveyance were established. Mr. Lewis says that the " stage " which John Stavers put on to run from Portsmouth to Boston, in 1761, was the first in New England. It was a curricle, drawn by two horses, and had seats for three peisons. It left Portsmouth on Monday morning, stopped the first night at Ipswich, and reached Boston the next afternoon. Returning, it left Boston on Thursday and reached Portsmouth on Friday. The fare was thirteen shillings and sixpence - somewhere between three and four dollars of our present money - besides the expenses by the way. President Quincy, who, in the early part of the present century, was wooing the fair lady of New York who afterward became his wife, thus feelingly speaks of the difficulties that beset his way : " The carriages were old and shackling, and much of the harness made of ropes. One pair of horses carried us eighteeu miles. We generally reached our resting-place for the night, if no accident intervened, at ten o'clock, and, after a frugal supper, went to bed with a notice that we should be called at three next morning - which generally proved to be half-past two. Then, whether it snowed or rained, the traveler must rise and make ready by the help of a horn lantern and a farthing candle, and proceed on his way, over bad roads, sometimes with a driver showing no doubtful symptoms of drunkenness, which good-hearted pa-^sengers never failed to improve at every stopping-place, by urging upon him the comfort of another glass of toddy. Thus we traveled eighteeu miles a stage, sometimes obliged to get out and help the coachman lift the coach out of a quagmire or rut, and arriving in New York after a week's hard travelling [from Boston], wondering at the ease as well as the expedition with which our journey was effected.'' It was to difficulties like these, too, that the Lynn shoe " bosses " were subjected in their trips southward, for at that period the customers did not often come to Lynn to make their purchases, but were sought for at their own homes. And their reflections during the perilous journeys, tinged, as they were, by business perplexities, must

The palmy days of the stage-coach were also the palmy days of the Lynn Hotel. Both, too, were thrown into the shade at the same time and by the same means - to wit, the construction of the Eastern Railroad. A good deal of romance clusters around the old stage-*, and there is little wonder that even novv sometimes companies of aged men, remembering the jolly rides of their youth, should wish to live over some especially happy episode. So we occasionally hear of a "tally-ho" expedition, with its oldtime turn-out, its yet merry driver, trembling under the weight of years, and its resounding horn again wakening the echoes of the hills. On the 12th of June, 1878, a party of twelve gentlemen, mostly quite aged, and all lovers of old-time customs, set out from Newburyport to enjoy a ride to Boston in the oldfashioned four-horse stage-coach of their boyhood. The driver was a veteran of the road, and eighty-one years of age. The start was propitious and the ride enjoyable, till they reached Lynn, when, near the junction of Western Avenue and Washington Street, an axle broke and the stage was overturned. Two or three of the passengers were seriously injured, and the aged driver received a severe shock to his system, beside painful bruises.

It was in 1838 that Lynn was invaded by the Eastern Railroad, which soon wrought very great alterations ; business centres were changed, giving rise to sectional jealousies, which festered for a number of years. The field of operation for the young aspirant for wealth seemed expanding, and there began to be high hope and expectation of renewed and augmented prosperity, though it was during one of the most protracted periods of business depression through which the country had ever passed.

As early as 1828 a proposition to construct a railroad from Boston to Salem began to be seriously considered, and a circular was sent out from the House of Representatives to various towns in the vicinity, seeking information from which a judgment could be formed as to the expediency of undertaking so formidable an enterprise, either by individuals or the State. The circular sent to Lynn was addressed to the editor of the Mirror, and was responded to after evidently careful investigation ; and some of the statements may properly be introduced, as showing the then condition of things here, in several 2>articulars.

"The principal manufacture of Lynn is shoes. Of these it. appears that 1,(38,189 pairs are annually made, which, at four shillings a pair, will amount to 8692,120. These, as they are usually packed, will till 11,535 boxes, the transportation of which, at one shilling a box, will cost S1922.50. It is considered that about three-fourths of the above amount returns to Lynn in sole leather and other articles for the manufacture of shoes, in English and West India goods and other merchandise, the transportation of which may be fairly estimated at $5708. The article of flour alone, 250'J barrels, at S6.00 a barrel, would amount to 8^15,000, the transportation of which would cost 8750. The transportation of the same amount in shoes would cost only 8-41.67. And many other heavy articles will bear an equal proportion. The transportation of a barrel of flour from Boston to Lynn is 30 cents, about the same as the conveyance from Baltimore to Boston.

[Swamp^ott and Nahant were at that time parts of Lynn.] "There have been about 1000 tons of fresh fish and 50 tons of cured fish conveyed on the turnpike as far as Charlestown during the past year, the transportation of which, at twenty siiillings a ton, amounts to $3500. Fifty barrels of oil have also been extracted, the transportation of which, at two shillings a barrel, cost 816.0(3.

" The other articles transported on the Boston route are GO tons of liay, 70 tons of chocolate, 20 tons of grain, 50 tons of cocoa, 20 tons of rice, 30 tons of ginger, IG tons of neat hides, 12 tons of leather, 27 tons of goat and kid skins, 85 tons of sumac, 9 tons of iron, 3G tons of coal, 30 tons of barberry root and 200 tons of marble, - making in all 671 tons, the transportation of which, at twenty shillings a ton, amounts to $223G.fi7. Besides these, a large amount of goods is annually conveyed to the dye-house and [silk] printing establishment.

"The average number of passengers is about 11 each day, for 300 days of the year, the amount of whose conveyance, at 81.25 each, is 84125. The amount paid by Lynn people for tolls is probably about $2100.

By the foregoing it will be seen how small an amount Lynn could then promise for the support of a railroad. And several interesting facts are disclosed by individual items. What most surprises one, perhaps, is the small number of passengers - an average oi eleven daily, and that with a thrifty population of 6000. There was comparatively little inducement for any excepting business men to visit the city. The few retail " shopping " necessities could be met at home, and the expense of the visit, both in time and money, was to be looked at. Many went to Boston but once or twice a year, and some not more than twice in a lifetime.

The few leading business men went up once a week in their own "teams," two sometimes joining, one furnishing the conveyance and the other paying the tolls and for house-baiting. Such were the terms on which two prominent townsmen - Samuel MuUiken and Jeremiah Bulfinch - on a chilly November day, set out. Mr. Bulfinch furnished the conveyance, and Mulliken was to pay the expenses. When they arrived at Charlestown in the forenoon they found that an additional toll or something of the sort, to the amount of six cents, had been recently levied. It was what neither had calculated on, and so Mr. M. contended that each should pay half; but Mr. Bulfinch declared that he would pay no part of the six cents. They were equally matched for stubbornness, and sat there arguing and disputing till the declining sun warned them that it was time to turn the horse's head homeward. And home they rode, each probably exulting in his triumph. This incident was related to the writer by one of the parties. "And," he added, his countenance radiating with the rekindled fire within, though he was then more than eighty years old, " I would have set there till this time, before I would have paid it ! "

Another thing mentioned in the answer to the circular is the amount of coal brought hither at that time - only thirty-six tons - and probably a considerable portion of even that was bituminous, or such as blacksmiths use. Anthracite was then just coming into use in New England, wood being still almost exclusively used for fuel, excepting that in a few country places peat afforded a partial supply. But enough of this.

Old Lynn Hotel has not yet closed its portals, though its business has greatly decreased. During the long period of more than eighty years, since it was erected, its hospitable doors have remained invitingly open for the traveler's entertainment. Other houses in the vicinity have in the meantime been opened and closed. Even the stately Boscobel has, within a few months, retired from the field. But there the old hotel remains, ever and anon renewing its appointments and changing its administration as years move on, becoming less and less an object of interest as those who were familiar with the forms of the elder Breed, of Deacon Field and of the vigilant " True " pass away.

A few words regarding one or two others of the earlier hotels, and matters connected with them, may be given before we pass on to other topics.

It was in 1810 that the once famous Mineral Spring Hotel was built. The situation was retired and romantic in the extreme. Almost surrounded by green hills and woods, and having at its very feet a beautiful lakelet, it was for years deemed a most charming resort. It received its name from the mineral spring which was early discovered near the border of the pond, and stood on rising land about midway between the turnpike and the old Danvers road, just upon the western border of Salem. The waters of the spring are impregnated with iron and sulphur, and were formerly much esteemed for their good effects in scorbutic and pulmonary diseases. Dr. John Caspar Eichter van Crown inscheldt, who was reputed to have been educated at the University at Liepsic, and to have fled from Germany on account of a duel, and who, by the way, was an ancestor of the prominent and respectable Crowninshield family of the present day, purchased the adjacent lands and settled there about the year 1690. The celebrated Cotton Mather visited him in his picturesque retreat, partook of the waters of the spring and in one of his works extols their virtues. Earlier than this, however, the spring was known, for in 1669 a description of the boundary line between Lynn and Salem speaks of it as a " noated spring."

But the hotel here has now for many years been numbered with the things that were. In 1847 Mr. Richard S. Fay purchased the estate, together with many adjacent acres, and formed there a most attractive and salubrious summer retreat, repairing and remodeling the house and embellishing the grounds in a manner to render it a fit residence for one of wealth and refined taste.

The Mineral Spring Hotel had one or two landlords of high reputation, whose character assured the most unobjectionable and liberal management. Among them was Major Jabez W. Barton, afterwards, for many years, host at the Albion, in Boston. But there were one or two attempts to sully its fair fame ; notably, in 1833, Dr. Hazeltine, a well-known and reputable physician, wrote a communication which was published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, speaking very slightingly of the waters of the spring, and in highly derogatory terms of the management of the hotel. This elicited several sharp replies, and it seemed finally satisfactorily settled that the house, with the exception of occasional disreputable episodes - such as all public-houses are liable to - had maintained a fair character. A forcible writer in one of the papers of the day said : " We know not which most to condemn, the illiberal terms in which he [Dr. Hazeltine] attempts to stigmatize one of the most respectable, quiet and unobjectionable resorts of families and parties in the summer season from Salem and Boston, or the downright ignorance which he manifests concerning the qualities of the spring water. We have said before, and we repeat it, that we know of no place, far or near, possessing so many natural attractions and offering so many real comforts and conveniences to genteel, intelligent and moral people as this summer retreat, nor one with a more upright and every way worthy gentleman at its head, than are to be found at the Lynn Mineral Spring Hotel." This was written at the time Major Barton was landlord.

Perhaps it is incumbent to say something of the great hotel and other public-houses of Nahant, especially those established while the peninsula remained a part of Lynn ; but as the writer of the sketch of that town will no doubt say all that is necessary, it might prove unneeded labor.

Nor is it necessary to speak individually of the present hotels of Lynn. We have a considerable number, and they are of various grades, from those reckoned as high-class even down to those which, in by-gone days, went by the name of " salt-hay " hostelries. Our business has been more especially with the taverns of former times - the wayside monuments of the past - around which cluster so much ot the true history and the romance of our early days. The generations that knew them have nearly passed away ; but their fame will survive in story long after their crumbling walls have disappeared. They have ever furnished for the historian, the poet and the dreamy novelist many of their most jovial, touching and tragic incidents, and long will they continue so to do. And as to the modes of travel, what more need be said?