Old Taverns of New York

First Merchants’ Exchange

Broad Street had become a desirable place of residence and many citizens of the better class made it their home. The canal or ditch through the middle of it, from the present Exchange Place to the river, would never have been there if New York had not been originally a Dutch town. Across the canal, near the river, between the present Stone and Bridge Streets, was a bridge. This was a favorite lounging place for idlers, where, leaning over the railing of the bridge, they could watch the ebb and flow of the tide and the various small boats which went a little way up the canal to discharge their cargoes of oysters, fish and country produce brought over from Long Island or other nearby points. It was the center of probably more stir and activity than any other place in the little city. Here the merchants had become accustomed to meet for trade and the transaction of business of various kinds. This induced Governor Lovelace, March 24, 1669-70, to issue an order establishing a sort of business exchange. This order specified that the meeting of the merchants should be between the hours of eleven and twelve on Friday mornings, at present near the bridge, and the mayor was directed to take care that they should not be disturbed. The time of meeting and dispersing was to be announced by the ringing of a bell. It was the beginning of the merchants’ exchange. This continued to be the meeting place of the merchants, and near this spot a building called the Exchange was subsequently built.

Not far away, on the present northwesterly corner of Broad and Pearl Streets, stood the tavern of James Matthews, who, besides keeping a tavern, was a merchant and a man of considerable means. The meeting place for merchants being almost in front of his door his house was a very convenient place for them to retire to, to consummate their bargains over a social glass. In 1678 and in 1685 he was one of the farmers of the excise. He died in the latter part of the year 1685, or early in 1686, and his widow continued to keep the house for about two years, when she also died. The executors of her estate petitioned, in March, 1688, for an abatement of £20 excise money.

In September, 1676, Abraham Corbett, “driven with his family from his home eastward of New England,” petitioned for a license to distill strong liquors, which was granted him. He became a lieutenant in the militia in 1684; and was one of the farmers of the excise in 1688, which indicates that he was a man of respectability and deserving of public confidence. He was also a tavern keeper. When Samuel Leete, clerk of the Court of Mayor and Aldermen, and an Alderman of the city, died in 1679, he left to Abraham Corbett, “all my household goods in part payment of what I owe him for meat and drink.” By Governor Dongan’s Charter of 1686, Abraham Corbett was appointed an Assistant Alderman. In 1680 he purchased for sixty pounds sterling a house and lot on the east side of Broadway, two or three doors south of the present Exchange Place, and some years later on this lot he erected a fine tavern, which he called the “Royal Oak,” where he spent his declining years in its management. Considering the position which Corbett held in the esteem of the people there is no doubt that his house received the patronage of the best class of the community.

In these early days there were no parks, but the open country was near at hand with all the charms of nature. Just south of the present Trinity Churchyard was the Governor’s Garden. A large gateway led to it and to a charming spot – a piece of elevated ground covered with natural forest – called the “Locust Trees,” which was a resort for those who enjoyed the open air, where they could look out on the broad expanse of the Hudson. It was not then covered with that panorama of moving craft which it now presents. It was the same majestic river as now, but its surface was unbroken except by a lonely canoe or a small sail or two lazily drifting up or down the stream, with the green shores of Staten Island and Pavonia in the distance.

The road along the East River, beyond the “water gate,” had a number of dwellings on its upper side. On the way to the ferry a road joined it called the “Maadge poadge,” or Maiden Lane, and a little way further another, the present John Street, led up to Vandercliff’s Orchard, which is said to have been a place of public resort, owned and kept by Dirck Vandercliff, who was also a merchant, and in 1687 was an assistant alderman.

A singular incident occurred at this place in 1682. James Graham, who was an alderman of the city in 1681, recorder in 1683, and afterwards attorney-general, had, according to evidence, expressed a desire to make the acquaintance of Captain Baxter, an English officer recently arrived in the Province, and accordingly a party of several friends, including Graham and Baxter, met at the tavern of Dirck Vandercliff in “The Orchard,” to spend a social afternoon and evening. About nine o’clock, as the company was about to break up, Graham, after paying the reckoning, was called aside by Baxter, but not out of the sight of the company. Those present saw Baxter act as if to kiss Graham, when the latter called out that he had been stabbed. He had been struck with a knife under the collar bone, the wound being about four inches deep. Baxter was arrested and bound over to await his trial in case of Graham’s death, but the wound did not prove to be mortal.

Wolfert Webber’s Tavern

On the hillside at the present Chatham Square, near the Collect or fresh water pond and the sparkling stream that fed it with the purest water on Manhattan Island, in a charming retreat, then considered far beyond the city wall, stood the tavern of Wolfert Webber, built in the time of the Dutch, and for a long time the farthest outlying dwelling on the eastern side. We find in the record that in 1655, a daughter of Wolfert Webber, tavernkeeper, had been returned to him from her captivity among the Indians. Notwithstanding the danger from attacks of the Indians, Webber continued to keep this house, and it was probably patronized by people who wished to enjoy the pleasures of the quiet and beautiful spot where it was located. In the marshes or swamps to the northwest, called the Kripple Bush, the sportsman could, in season, find woodcock in abundance, or he could enjoy the more gentle sport of angling in the Collect. Although the eastern side of the Collect was very attractive, the western side, at one time, was the residence of the very poorest class of people, and, on account of the stagnant water of the nearby swamps, considered very unhealthy.

When the Dutch were in possession of the city for the second time and called it New Orange, Wolfert Webber was made a magistrate for the Outside People, or those beyond the Fresh Water, and under the English he was appointed by the Dongan Charter of 1686 an assistant alderman. He represented the Out Ward as assistant Alderman in 1688, 1689, 1706 and 1707, and was still keeping the tavern at this same place. In April, 1715, “enjoying yet good health, but being ancient,” he made his will, and died a year or two after.

In 1660, on account of the repeated attacks of the Indians on the outside settlements, an order was issued requiring the abandonment of isolated habitations, and the gathering of the people in hamlets or villages for mutual protection. In response to this order there came a petition from those living beyond the fresh water stream asking that their houses might be permitted to remain, and that encouragement be held out to others to build near them so as to form a village. This request was granted and a village was established near the bowery of Governor Stuyvesant. A tavern, a blacksmith shop and a few other buildings formed the settlement to which was added shortly after a small church, erected by the governor on a part of his farm. To this farm or bowery Stuyvesant retired when the English had relieved him of the cares of office. The road leading to this village became known as the Bowery Road or Lane.

For a time this was the end of the road, but when the English came into possession of the city, they soon sought to open communication with the New England colonies by land and with the recently made settlement of New Harlem. A road was laid out which, in time, was extended through the whole length of the island to King’s Bridge, and became the highway of travel for all going to the north or east.

The Two-Mile Tavern

The tavern which had been set up at the village, as travel increased became known as the two-mile stopping place, and is said to have been a famous place of resort. Its situation was admirable, for the purpose, and it was, no doubt, visited by those making excursions of pleasure from the city, especially sleighing parties. At this time and for a great many years this was the only road of any great length on which such a sport could be enjoyed. For a long time the tavern was occupied by Adriaen Cornelissen, who was farmer and tavern-keeper. He was living here in 1674, when the Dutch for the second time were in possession of New Amsterdam, which they then called New Orange, and was appointed one of the schepens or magistrates for the outside people or those beyond the wall. Under the English rule he was Assistant Alderman in 1684 and in 1687. In 1689 he was made a captain of militia, his commission bearing date, December 16th of that year.

When, in 1690, commissioners came down from the New England colonies to confer with those of New York and deliberate on proper steps to be taken against the French and Indians, they declined to enter the city on account of the prevalence of small-pox, and Governor Leisler fixed upon this house as the place of meeting, describing it as a good, neat house, about two miles from the city, and kept by Captain Arian Cornelis. Here the commissioners met on the 1st of May, 1690.

John Clapp Tavern-Keeper

A few years later the landlord of this tavern was John Clapp, the maker and publisher of the first almanac by a resident of New York City, which he says was “the product of my many spare Minnits.” It was not the first printed in New York, for Bradford had, for several years, printed Leed’s Almanac. Clapp claims to have been the first person in New York to set up a hackney coach, and announces in his almanac that “about two miles without the City of New York, at the place called the Bowery, any Gentlemen Travellers that are strangers to the City, may have very good Entertainment, for themselves and Horses, where there is also a Hackney Coach and good Saddle Horses to be hired.” He was a promoter of social festivities, which well became him as a genial landlord. In the Almanac, under June, is found the following:

“The 24th of this month is celebrated the Feast of St. John Baptist, in commemoration of which (and to keep up a happy union and lasting friendship by the sweet harmony of good society), a feast is held by the Johns of this city, at John Clapp’s in the Bowery, where any Gentleman whose Christian name is John may find a hearty wellcome to joyn in consort with his namesakes.” He notes that John Clapp’s in the Bowery, two miles from the postoffice, is generally the baiting place where gentlemen take leave of their Friends going on a long journey, “where a parting glass or two of generous Wine,

If well apply’d, makes the dull Horses feel,One Spur i’ th’ Head is worth two in the heel.”

Seven miles from Clapp’s was the half way house, nine miles further was King’s Bridge, and from King’s Bridge to Old Shute’s, at East Chester, was six miles.

Excepting that of the governor, it is doubtful if there was a single equipage for pleasure in the City of New York at this time, and the ease with which a sled or sleigh could be constructed, which would smoothly and silently glide over the snow, made sleigh-riding a great sport during the period when it could be enjoyed. That John Clapp’s house, at the two mile station, was a great place of resort at such times, is no mere supposition. We have the testimony of Madam Sarah Knight, who was in New York in 1704, that this was so. She had come from Boston to New York on horseback, and the quaint and humorous way in which she has told the story of her travels has made her little book a gem for the antiquarian. She says of the New Yorkers: “Their diversion in the winter is riding sleys about three miles out of town, where they have houses of entertainment at a place called the Bowery.” On an excursion with Mr. Burroughs, she says that she believes that she met that day as many as fifty or sixty “sleys,” which, she says, “fly with great swiftness, and some are so furious that they’ll turn out of the path for none but a Loden cart,” which surely indicates the enthusiasm with which the sport was enjoyed, and John Clapp, at such times, was, no doubt, a very busy man.

John Clapp seems to have received an education which made him a prominent man among the settlers. In the time of Governor Leisler he was a resident of Flushing, when, “at a town meeting upon Long Island where divers of the freeholders of the Towns of Hamsted, Jamaica, Flushing and Newtown wer mett and assembled, to consult on the lamentable state and condition that Theire Maj’ties liege subjects lay under; by the severe oppressions and Tyranical usurpations of Jacob Leisler and his accomplices, it was desired by the freeholders aforesaid that Capt. John Clapp should write an humble letter to Their Maj’ties Secr’ty of Stat in all there behalves and signify to there Maj’ties in what a sad condition we are all in. – Nov. 7th, 1690.” This is followed by a long letter.

He was clerk of the New York Assembly, in session in New York during the year 1692. He was also a tavern keeper at that time, and must have been a man to win the esteem and good will of those who became his guests. Lucas Santen, who was at one time collector of the port of New York, and a member of Governor Dongan’s Council, when he died, in 1692, left “to my landlord, Captain John Clapp, £40 to buy him a mourning ring, in consideration of the trouble I have given him.” The next year Clapp succeeded Cornelissen as landlord of the tavern in the Bowery village. Here all the travel to the north and east passed his door and we can hardly believe that any traveler would, without stopping, pass the door of such a genial and jovial landlord as we are convinced was John Clapp, and we have reason to believe that his house was a favorite resort for the people in the city. He was undoubtedly residing here in 1703, and at some time between this date and 1710 removed to Rye, in Westchester county, for in the latter year John Clapp made returns of the names of men from 16 to 60 in the County of Westchester, and he was interested there in large grants of land.

Towards the close of the seventeenth century there were two features in the local history of New York City which attract attention. For many years before the close of the century it was regarded by the maritime countries of Europe as a protecting port for pirates, and the political disturbances which resulted in the execution of Jacob Leisler and Jacob Minhorne continued to divide the community into two contending factions composed of many bitter partisans.

Trade With Pirates

Respected merchants from New York sent out ships to the coast of Africa for slaves, loaded with liquors, arms, ammunition and other articles, just such as would be desired by pirates, which they exchanged at tremendous advance in prices for the plunder of these robbers of the seas, and returned to New York with slaves and the valuable goods they had thus obtained. One successful voyage was often sufficient to make the owners of the vessel wealthy, and they claimed that they were doing nothing wrong; that they had a perfect right to buy goods of any kind wherever they could purchase them to the best advantage. With some this trade in the plunder of pirates was, no doubt, incidental, but it was profitable, although they ran the risk of being the victims of pirates themselves.

Pirates came into port and were received not only in a friendly manner, but were even honored by unusual attentions from the governor, who was apparently interested in their ventures.

William Mason went out of the harbor of New York in 1689 with a commission as a privateer. He turned pirate, made war on East India commerce, and reaped a rich harvest of gold and East India goods, with which he filled his ship. When the ship returned under the command of Edward Coats, she put in on the east end of Long Island, where Coats and his crew found a friendly reception, and learning that they might be favorably received in New York, came into this port. Coats and his crew, by making valuable presents to the Governor and his family, and also to members of the Council, were unmolested. The ship was presented to the Governor, who sold it for £800. Coats said that his exemption from prosecution cost him £1,800.

Captain Thomas Tew, who was known as a pirate, and had been the subject of complaint from the East India Company, came to New York in November, 1694, and was received by Governor Fletcher on terms of intimate companionship; was invited to his table, and rode by his side in his coach and six. He gave elegant presents to the Governor and his family, and left with a commission as privateer against the French, agreeing to discharge his cargo in this port. He went directly to his former field of activity and made his name still more notorious by his depredations upon the East India commerce.

Bellomont’s Difficulties

About this time, John Hoare came to New York and received the usual commission from Governor Fletcher to act against the French. He openly avowed that his destination was for the African coast and recruited for that purpose. From the sequel we can not avoid the conclusion that there was some kind of an understanding with some of the merchants of New York, for after he had been absent about a year they sent out the ship Fortune to Madagascar, loaded with goods suitable for pirates, where she was met by Hoare’s ship, filled with valuable plunder. The goods were transferred to the Fortune, and with a part of Hoare’s crew she returned to New York. At this time Governor Fletcher, whose dealings with pirates had been brought to the attention of the British government, had been superseded by the Earl of Bellomont, whose instructions were to put a stop to this illegal trade. The cargo of the Fortune, when she arrived in New York, was secretly gotten ashore in the night, and stored. By order of Bellomont the goods were seized and officers were about to remove them, when a large number of merchants interfered to prevent them from doing it, using violence and locking the officers in the house, who, after three hours, were only released by the appearance of the lieutenant-governor and three files of men. The ship Fortune was forfeited.

Frederick Phillipse, one of the Governor’s Council, and reported the richest man in New York, expected a ship from Madagascar and to prevent her arrival in the port of New York with goods that might subject her to forfeiture, sent out his son Adolphus, on a vessel ostensibly bound for Virginia, which laid off the port until the expected vessel arrived, when the East India goods on board were transferred to her and carried to the Delaware, leaving the Madagascar ship to enter with only slaves as her cargo. The East India goods were sent to Hamburg, where they were seized.

In taverns of medium and even in some of the better class, could have been met at this period men who had taken part in captures on the African coast, and who, over their mugs of ale, entertained their companions with stories of their adventures, modified somewhat as suggested by prudence. They were not men of swarthy complexion and ferocious features, with knife and pistol in belt, as pictured by the imagination of writers of tales of the sea, yet they were, nevertheless, as genuine pirates as ever sailed the sea.

For some time, in the latter part of the year 1694, Thomas Tew, the notorious pirate, was a well known and picturesque figure on the streets and in the taverns of New York, where he spent money lavishly, ordering brandy, ale and other beverages for whoever would drink with him. He was a man about forty years of age, of slight figure and dark complexion; richly and strikingly dressed. He wore a blue cap with a band of cloth of silver, and a blue jacket bordered with gold lace and ornamented with large pearl buttons. Loose trunks of white linen extended to his knees, where they were joined by curiously worked stockings. From his neck hung a rich chain of gold, and in his belt, curiously knit, he carried a dagger, its hilt set with the rarest gems.

The exciting events of the Leisler period had left in the body politic a festering sore that would not heal. The Leislerians believed that the execution of Jacob Leisler and his son-in-law, Jacob Minhorne, had been nothing less than murder, and their relatives and friends were active in England in endeavors to revive the honor of their names and to reverse the attainder of their estates. In this situation of affairs it can readily be seen that there was much uneasiness and excitement in the community, and the taverns were the centers of all this boiling and agitated disturbance in the mercantile and political life of New York.

The bitter opposition which Bellomont received from the merchants and the wealthiest of the people of New York compelled him to look to the Leislerians for support and to appoint to office members of that party. He seems besides to have been moved to take this step from a conviction that great injustice had been done. A few extracts from his letters will tend to show the situation as he viewed it.

From a letter of the Earl of Bellomont to the Board of Trade, dated September 21, 1698:

“The Jacobite party in this towne have a clubb commonly every Saturday (which was Colonel Fletcher’s clubb day). Last Saturday was seaven night, there mett twenty seaven of them, their ringleaders are Colonel Bayard, Colonel Minviele, both of the Councill, Mr. Nicolls, late of the Councill, and Wilson, late Sheriff of this towne; there is so great a rancor and inveterancy in these people that I think it by no means proper for me to leave this province till I have your Lordship’s orders upon the representations I made to your Lordships by the Richmond Frigatt, and since by Mr. Weaver; for I do verily believe if I should goe from hence, the people would fall together by the ears, besides, should I goe away, it would give the faction great advantage, and would tend very much to the revenue ceasing, and the measures I have proposed to myself for the obtaining the continuance of this present revenue would be thereby frustrated. This the Faction know very well, and therefore are very free in their wishes that I were gone to my other governments.”

To Mr. Popple, Secretary of the Board of Trade, he writes:

“This day another instance happen’d of the brutishness of some of the people here. The Master of the ship that carries this packet, was with me last Tuesday and promised to call on me on Thursday for the King’s packetts, but it seems intended to disappoint me and leave my letters behind and begon his voyage. I refer you for an account of this man’s behavior to the inclosed certificate and warrant, only this I must tell you, I sent yesterday the Commissioner of the Customes Mr. Hungerford to pray him to come to me and receive the King’s packetts, and he swore he would not for all the Governours in Christendom, and he would not be Post Boy to carry letters for any body; which refusal of his made me send a warrant to bring him by force. The angry merchants of this town had without doubt encouraged this man to be thus insolent, or he durst not have refused to carry the letters, after promising me faithfully, he would call for and carry them. This is another specimen of the rage and malice of these people, who I am satisfied nothing but fear keeps from rebelling against the Government; unlawful trade and Arabian gold brought in by Pirat ships from the Red Sea are the things they thirst after.”

On October 18, 1700, he wrote to Secretary Vernon, as follows:

“The Lords of the Councill of Trade direct me to make an experiment in working some navall Stores here, with the soldiers. I cannot go about it with such Officers who I believe would rather traverse me in such a design than further it; and would I fear stir up a mutiny among the sould’rs, if I should propose to ’em the working of Navall Stores for the King. I am not for breaking those Lieut’s, but exchanging them for honest, good Lieut’s in some of the Regiments in England. My first Lieut’s name is Peter Matthews, bred up from a child with Coll. Fletcher & ’tis at his house that the angry people of this Town have a Club and hold their cabals; my second Lieut’s is John Buckley; there is also another Lieut, in Maj’r Ingoldesby’s Company whose name is Matthew Shank, a most sad drunken sott, and under no good character for manhood. I desire also he may be exchanged for a better man from England.”