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.
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.