Comments on: America’s Oldest Bars

By: dave krotseng

dave krotseng — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:43:00 +0000

One more you missed is the Middleton Tavern in Annapolis, MD which has been in operation since 1750.

By: Jon

Jon — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:16:21 +0000

Here’s an article about the oldest bars in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Some of them from the 1800s.

http://www.onmilwaukee.com/bars/articles/historictavern.html

By: Alan

Alan — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:17:19 +0000

Oops – the internet died for me at home. I will work on this mapled masterpiece asap.

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:58:46 +0000

I have the opposite view – the more subcategorization the better!! I would say it is important to map the age and continuity of these establishments in the context of where people were at what point. Plus, it contextualizes the taverns into to the cultural history of North America.

An interactive map. That’s what we need.

By: J

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:48:56 +0000

You bring up an interesting point, my friend. You are quite correct that those earliest taverns were under colonial rule and it was by the merest quirk of fate that they ended up a part of these United States. You yourself might also be so afflicted if we had been better at waging war. Didn’t we try twice to take over Canada, being beaten back both times rather embarrassingly? I’m sure our poor skills at hockey and curling had something to do with our defeat.

All kidding aside, I guess I was basing the list on where they are now, not under whose rule they started. If we tried dividing them up that way, I feel certain chaos would ensue. We could always just chuck all the national borders and make the list North American.

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:31:11 +0000

I think I will start discussion of that list tonight, Jay. But also remember, however, that on your list #1 to #11 predate the end of the American Revolution and so were under the pleasure of the British Crown. Heck, wasn’t Jean Lafittes Blacksmith Shop under French control until 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase?

Newfoundland may be a hot bed of early taverns, now that I think of it.

By: J

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:55:54 +0000

Well, nothing too formal, obviously. There are a few on the list that started as bars but closed for a time and then became bars again. That doesn’t trouble me too much, I guess because in a sense every bar on the list took a 13-year hiatus during Prohibition. I tried to limit places that started as a residence or some other purpose but later converted to a bar, preferring to use the date they started serving alcohol as their bar date, so to speak. The ones you mention, of course, suffer from small tiny detail that I think may keep them off the list: they’re Canadian. But perhaps we should start a companion list with our neighbors to the north?

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:40:45 +0000

What is needed to qualify? We have the 1839 Queen’s Inn here in Kingston Ontario that I think has been in continuous operation. There are a few more Pre-confederation (1867) pubs as well as a couple of still standing but repurposed Victorian breweries. The Prince Hotel next to City Hall is from 1809 and likely served booze in one form or another over that time.