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Award Winning Publication |
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Recipients
of a General Operating Support Grant
from the
New Jersey Historical Commission, a Division of the Department
of State
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Welcome to the Merchants and Drovers Tavern, built around
1795 on the country road to Elizabethtown at the intersection of
the road to Westfield. John Anderson purchased the building in
1798 and applied for a license to operate a "tavern at Rahway...
in the house lately occupied by Squire Pierson as a store." |
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It was not long before Anderson, obviously a tavern
keeper of some success, enlarged the tavern, expanding it
laterally to the north. The building became the four-story
federal style inn that stands today by the mid-1820s, probably
shortly after Dr. David Craig bought the site in 1822. |
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In early New Jersey, taverns such as the Merchants and
Drovers served a multitude of functions. In the absence of civic
and other public buildings, this inn was utilized for government
meetings, auctions, business transactions, patriotic
celebrations and public entertainment. It also served as a
stagecoach stop. Both travelers passing through and newcomers to
the community could find accommodation. Here newspaper and
traveler would impart the news of the day, and men of the
neighborhood shared their stories in the club-like atmosphere of
the taproom. |
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continuously as an inn from 1798 until the mid-1930s,
the hotel has remained substantially unchanged. Its two
parlors, taproom, kitchen, long room, twelve bedrooms,
and servant quarters have been painstakingly restored to
their 1820s appearance and furnished with period
antiques and reproductions. |
Taproom |
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To step across the threshold is to call upon the ghosts
of the past and recapture the romance of another age. |
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Museum Shop |
Visitors
to the Merchants and Drovers Tavern can experience the
hospitality of the 1820s. The visitor may quench his
thirst in the taproom, sit for a while in the parlor or,
perhaps, try a bed for size at this "hands-on" museum.
In addition to daytime hours and programs, the tavern is
also open for evening candlelight tours and events. The
18th century Terrill Tavern, also on the property,
houses the
Museum Shop. |
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