There was a time when the sleepy little village of Quakertown was a lively place, back when it had two taverns. I learned this from Egbert T. Bush, who wrote a couple articles about the village.
Since I am focusing on taverns these days, I will publish parts of Mr. Bush’s first article on the village, the parts concerning its taverns.
Interesting Facts About Quakertown
by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, N.J.
Hunterdon Co. Democrat, February 27, 1930
There are so many interesting points about Quakertown that one does not know where to begin.
This is an article by Egbert T. Bush about the village of Cherryville in Franklin Township, Hunterdon County. It serves as a follow-up to my article on the earliest owners of the Cherryville Tavern, back when the village was known as Anderson Town, after the early tavern owner, James Anderson.
Cherryville, Once Called Dogtown,
Has Long History
Nobody Knows When the Old “Dogtown Tavern” Was Built
Some Neighborhood History1
by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, N.J.
Hunterdon Co. Democrat, December 19, 1929
or “Peter Cherry’s Inn”
on the Klinesville-Cherryville Road,
in Raritan Township
“Point Tavern” is surely one of the oddest names for a tavern. When Egbert T. Bush wrote his article, Klinesville Once Had A Tavern, he pointed out (sorry) that
. . it was a place of note in its day, and reference was made to the old “Pint Tavern” and to some of the doings there, long after it had fallen into disuse. The name is said to have been given because of its location on the point. But everybody called it the “Pint Tavern,” and as such it is remembered.
This article by Egbert T. Bush describes a particular neighborhood, not far northwest of Flemington, at the intersection of today’s Thatcher’s Hill Road and Sand Hill Road.
In my research I have often come across references to Johnson’s Tavern as a landmark. Deeds refer to it when identifying roads, like “the road from Swamp Meeting House (Locktown) to Johnson’s Tavern” or “the road from Rittenhouse Tavern (Rosemont) to Johnson’s Tavern.” And sometimes it is just “the great road to Johnson’s Tavern,” which is today’s Route 519 through Kingwood Township.
In part one of Summit School, Mr. Bush talked about “the meanest hill that old-timers had to travel on their way to Flemington.” Actually, going TO Flemington wasn’t so bad since it was all downhill. But returning UP the hill was no picnic. In fact, it was a “hard scrabble.”
While going through my files I came upon an article about the Inn by Hunterdon historian Egbert T. Bush. It tells us much about how popular and important the Inn was, not just to Stockton but also to the surrounding towns.
Raritan Township was in the news not long ago for its effort to acquire and preserve a 48-acre farm to the west of Flemington. It is located near an area that has long been known as “Hardscrabble.”
One never knows when an article by Egbert T. Bush might come in handy. In this case, it turns out to be very handy for the research I am doing on Flemington in the 19th century.
