Full – 3 Column – GOODSPEED HISTORIES

The County House, Part Two

December 14, 2025 By Marfy Goodspeed in Amwell Township, Featured, Flemington, Hunterdon County No Comments Tags: Downtown Flemington, local government, taverns

A Tavern & A Courthouse

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.

The County House, part one

November 20, 2025 By Marfy Goodspeed in Featured, Flemington 4 Comments Tags: architecture, Downtown Flemington, roads, taverns, The Revolution

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.

Larason’s Tavern

March 25, 2023 By Marfy Goodspeed in Amwell Township, Featured, Larison, Raritan Township Tags: land titles, taverns

For some time, I have been writing articles about the early taverns in Hunterdon County, knowing how important they were to both travelers on Hunterdon’s earliest roads and the communities that built up around them. One of the taverns on my to-do list was Larason’s Tavern on the Old York Road north of Ringoes. Fortunately, Dave Harding, administrator of the Hunterdon County Historical Society, did the job for me. His history of the tavern appeared in the most recent issue of the Hunterdon Historical Record (vol. 59, no.1), the Historical Society’s regular newsletter.

With Dave’s permission, I am reprinting the article here along with some footnotes and additional information at the end. This has been a real treat for us both.

Pittstown Inn, part 3

November 29, 2022 By Marfy Goodspeed in Emery, Featured, Hunt, Pittstown, Stryker Tags: taverns

Part Two of my history of the Pittstown Inn ended with the death of Moore Furman in 1808. Part three will describe the Inn’s 19th century owners and its innkeepers—quite often not the same people.

Pittstown Inn, part two

October 13, 2022 By Marfy Goodspeed in Alexandria Township, Featured, Hunterdon County, Pittstown Tags: architecture, taverns

I ended part one of the Pittstown Inn when the Revolution came to an end. The Treaty of Paris was finally signed on September 3, 1783, thanks to the efforts of America’s representative at the negotiations, Benjamin Franklin.

Pittstown Inn, part one

September 10, 2022 By Marfy Goodspeed in Alexandria Township, Featured, Hoff, Hunterdon County, Kingwood Township, Rockhill Tags: early settlers, Indians, taverns, The Revolution

In her excellent book All Roads Lead to Pittstown (2015),¹ Stephanie Stevens called attention to the early roads that converged on the village of Pittstown. Roads were certainly important, but just as important were creeks in creating the locations of Hunterdon villages.

Quakertown’s Taverns

July 17, 2022 By Marfy Goodspeed in E. T. Bush, Featured, Franklin Township, Historians Revisited Tags: alcohol, maps, taverns

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.

Cherryville’s Tavern

June 19, 2022 By Marfy Goodspeed in Barton, E. T. Bush, Featured, Franklin Township, Green, Historians Revisited, Johnson, Lawshe, McPherson, Rake, Snyder, Warford Tags: houses, land titles, maps, politics, taverns

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.

Two McPherson Trees

May 28, 2022 By Marfy Goodspeed in Families, McPherson Tags: family trees

Thomas and Samuel McPherson seem to have arrived in Hunterdon County at about the same time, in the mid 18^th century. It is quite likely they were related, but I found no proof, and am therefore playing it safe and publishing their trees separately here. Thomas’ family comes after Samuel’s.

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