It is time to return to the 18th century Flemington tavern lot that once included the Courthouse and nearly the whole block along Main Street north to the post office.
Part 6 ended with an Epilogue, but it did not include the two most important people in that story, Lucius W. Stockton and Jacob Anderson himself. Part Seven is reserved for them.
Federalists v. Democratic Republicans in Hunterdon County got heated in 1795. The Jay Treaty and fallout from the Sheriff’s election of 1794.
When researching history, I find that you can start off with a plan, but before long one thing will lead to another, or even several ‘anothers,’ that are completely unexpected. Which makes it challenging to stay on course. That was definitely the case while I was preparing this chapter.
This is technically part four of the County House series, even though it does not directly concern the old tavern/hotel.
Samuel Stewart and Anna Smith had an interesting connection with each other and with Flemington’s courthouse and Alexander’s tavern, as well as other 18th-century residents of the town. If you haven’t yet read PART THREE of my series, The County House, I strongly recommend that you do that first.
During the years 1791-1793, a new courthouse for Hunterdon County was constructed in Flemington. Before it was finished, a complication emerged that connected the courthouse lot with Alexander’s tavern on Main Street.
Construction began after June 1, 1791, when a large gathering took place in Flemington to celebrate. The event was reported on June 22, 1791 in The Gazette of United States.1
The history of a hotel that once stood on the west side of Flemington’s Main Street has quickly turned into something much more. Part One began with Flemington’s first European property owners and ended with the Revolution. This article goes on from there, but only as far as the 1790s, when Hunterdon County acquired a new courthouse.
Part One of a series on the origins of the west side of Main Street, Flemington, from the courthouse, north.
This is one of my favorite photographs.1 The building is Mount’s Hotel on Flemington’s Main Street, across from and a little north of the Union Hotel. It was replaced in the 1970s by the group of shops called ‘New Market,’ built by Don Shuman.
