The Whiskey Papers #14 - The Van Ness Tobacco Factory

The Whiskey Papers #14 - The Van Ness Tobacco Factory

St. Albans Township has been home to a variety of crops - grains grown for human need and livestock feed, berries both wild and cultivated, orchards, and even stands of maple trees for sugar.  Yet, our farmers have grown some unorthodox crops as well.  Hemp was grown along the east side of Mounts Road from Alexandria to Lobdell Road.  The hemp was harvested, dried, and the fibers twisted into rope.  Today, it is illegal to grow hemp.  The Great Mulberry Silkworm Experiment had run its course after causing stained shoe soles in the Spring for nearly every one in town.  Tobacco was even grown.  Today, Ohio officially discourages the growth of tobacco, but there was a time when Ohio tobacco competed with Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina tobacco.  At one time, Alexandria had a Cigar Factory.  Consider this,

During the late 1700s and the early 1800s, [...] Ohioans also planted tobacco. The crop never gained the popularity among Ohio farmers as it did among farmers further south, but a commercial market did develop for Ohio-grown tobacco. Ohio farmers continue to grow tobacco today. In 1992, Ohio farmers produced almost twenty-one million pounds of tobacco.

Ohio Historical Central, downloaded 2021

An old-time tobacco cutter.

Cigars can be anything from simple to complex.  A stogie - more formally, a Conestoga - is a long thin, untapered roll of tobacco wrapped with tobacco leaf.  The Kentucky Cheroot is a form of stogie that has been soaked in sugar water before the final drying.  More expensive is usually more complex.  These cigars come in a bewildering variety of styles and sizes.  These cigars share a common formula.  A core of fine, expensive tobacco is surrounded by a filler before being wrapped in tobacco leaf.  Ring gauges are used to size the cigar's diameter while a mold or ruler measures length.  A simple sharp knife is used for finish work.  Climate control is essential to keep the leaves from turning to dust.

A cigar factory has simple requirements.  A small desk-sized table is used for rolling.  There might be a display case and sales counter.  Perhaps room for some hogshead sized barrels for pipe tobacco and chewing tobacco, if offered.  Maybe a desk for running the business.  A small frame building would supply that.  What does take space is a somewhat specialized drying barn and processing shed.  One of Alexandria's lots could supply all the space required for a small tobacco business.  Several acres of farmland can supply plenty of room for planting sufficient amounts of tobacco to supply a small market.

Do not be deceived.  I grew up thinking the small building next to the Alexandria Museum was the Alexandria Tobacco Factory.  In fact, that humble building served as Dr. Laycock's Physician's Office.  Those who told me this believed it as well.  The reality is a little different.  The house that currently houses the Alexandria Museum was, some 150 years ago, was a larger structure.  At some point, the western portion was removed, trundled off, and set up to become the first house on the South Road after Granville Road forks off.  The house also has an extension in the rear for the kitchen.  This was a prudent safety feature of the time.  It is in the basement, below the kitchen, that the Alexandria Tobacco Factory could be found.  This was the house of Stephen I. Van Ness.

Stephen was from old Knickerbocker Dutch stock.  He was born in New Jersey, where so many of New York's Dutch had moved.  Stephen was also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution; likely his grandfather served in the American Revolution.  Stephen married Rachel Ann in New Jersey and at some point after marriage and before 1850, made their way to Alexandria.  Together, this couple had four children - George, John, who died shortly before his third birthday; Sarah, who married her stepbrother; and Clara, who died at the age of 19.  Rachel Ann died in 1857, the same year Clara was born.

Stephen remarried, this time to a widow, Eliza Hubbard.  Eliza brought her own children to the marriage - Henry, John, and Seldon.  Sarah Van Ness would go on to marry Henry Hubbard.  Stephen died in 1889.  Along the way, Federal Census records list Stephen as a farmer.

George B. Cash provides some details of the inner workings of the cigar factory.  In an article prepared for the Alexandria Literary Society, Cash explains that the girls of the family would hand roll the cigars in the basement.  Heavier work was saved for the boys.  Further, they had a large knife used to cut chewing tobacco, although Cash was unsure how it  was cut.

As a young teenager, I was always a bit careful when I rode my bike downtown to get the mail.  Fortunately, I could dart down an alley if I saw Sarah Hubbard.  Sarah Hubbard would talk my ear off about people I knew nothing of.  To me, I did not care.  The people I cared about lived in western Indiana and eastern Illinois.  I am a Hoosier farmboy at heart.  As a young boy, I had other interests than to listen to Sarah Hubbard.  I apologize.

Sarah was widowed in 1937 when her husband Harry Hubbard died.  Harry's father was Henry Hubbard, stepson of Stephen Van Ness.  Sarah passed in 1975.

To be sure, it is likely that most tobacco users in the area chewed their tobacco.  It was the most convenient way to consume.  Cigarettes had not really been invented and pipes were usually reserved to relax with.  Cigars were also common too.  Any general store worth its salt would have carried plug tobacco.  This is tobacco that has been compressed into a bar.  The tobacco supplier would also provide a plug cutter through which the proprietor would slide the plug until the ordered amount, measured in inches, showed through the end.  A slicer then sliced the plug, much like an old-fashioned paper cutter, to produce a well-cut, saleable good.  The customer could then bite off a piece to chew or cut some off for his (or her) pipe.

The Van Ness Tobacco Company/Cigar Factory as it appeared in 2019.

I have always heard of Van Ness' business as "The Cigar Factory."  After researching this article, I cannot tell you how many cigars he made or who he marketed to.  I might suggest that Van Ness grew tobacco, processed some into plugs, some into cigars, and sold the remainder wholesale to other tobacco producers and retailers.

The Whiskey Papers #2 - The Good Tavern

The Whiskey Papers #2 - The Good Tavern

What makes for a good, successful Inn or Tavern in the 1800s?  There are many factors.

Mount Washington Tavern, Pennsylvania

A close relationship with local agriculture.  For an Innkeeper to succeed, the larder must be stocked.  The miller sold the Innkeeper Whiskey and grain for breadmaking.  The livestock farmer sold joints of meat, poultry, and game for roasts and other prepared meat.  The local butcher comes into play here as well.  Sausages could be produced by either the butcher or the Innkeeper.  Further, the local merchants could provide those items otherwise not available.  St. Albans was also rich in orchards that not only provided fresh fruits but could produce pie fillings and ciders.  Finally, Alexandria had its own Tobacco Factory to provide local cigars, chewing and pipe tobacco.  In short, the Innkeeper had to have a wide array of supply channels.

A close proximity to roads.  Innkeepers generally do not rely on local customers.  Although Innkeepers did not turn away local business, Innkeepers were there to provide a place for travellers to eat, drink, and sleep.  To do this, an Inn or Tavern would be next to the road.   St. Albans three Taverns -- The Edge of the Woods, Buxton's Tavern, and Blood's Tavern -- were all located along major teamster routes between Newark and Columbus.  These Taverns could supply the teamster's needs, not just for the drivers but for the horses as well.  Roads and travellers were the bread and butter of the Tavernkeeper's business.

The road from Granville was miserable.  After leaving Granville, the road followed the Raccoon Creek flood plain.  At the Alexandria end, there was a steep, muddy, and treacherous uphill climb out of the flood plain followed by plateau, then another uphill into Alexandria proper.  Buxton's Tavern must have been a welcome relief to man and horse alike.

A tavern and a bar are two different entities.  As demonstrated in a later paper, Blood's Tavern played host to the local Freemason activities.  Blood's Tavern was considered a 'destination' for young men from Newark, and it has been said that many unofficial parties from Denison University were held at Blood's.  Meanwhile, Buxton's Tavern was a polling place in local elections and a place where real estate and other transactions took place.  Because Buxton's was in town and centrally located in St. Albans, many locals made use of Buxton's to conduct business.

This is a far cry from a place to go drink alcohol.  Had that been the case, how can we explain the lack of Taverns north of town?  It has been said that 150 years ago, the people north of Alexandria were 'louder' than their more solemn neighbors south of town.  In other words, if you wanted whiskey, you went a few miles north of Alexandria.  True or not, I cannot say, but if the Tavern were considered a bar, then we could expect to see taverns north of town.  Instead, we find the farming neighborhood of Hardscrabble.  Continuing north, you found New Way and Brooks' Corners.  I find no evidence of these locales as whiskey producers.  If they uncorked a jug, it was likely at someone's house, and the whiskey likely did not flow so liberally as said.

Before railroads, the Tavernkeeper was an important member of the Community.  The Innkeeper not only had customers, the Innkeeper was a customer.  For a family that stopped at one of our taverns, the Innkeeper wanted the business so that when their guests wrote home, St. Albans would be remembered as a place to stop for the night.  Word of mouth is the best form of advertising.  Therefore, the Innkeeper needed the best the community could offer to serve to guests -- this applies to a good whiskey as well as a good roast beef dinner.

For St. Albans, the ralroad helped sign the death sentence for the Taverns.  Teamsters disappeared from the roads as good were carried in what railroads called LCL freight.  LCL -- Less Than Carload -- was a bread and butter item for railroad.  Today, the railroad might set out a boxcar at an industry, the industry packs the boxcar full of freight, then the car is attached to a train and taken to a destination.  It is a business to business affair.  But what if you order a stove, you know, one of those heavy cast iron monsters?  The railroad would load it in an LCL boxcar.  When the train stopped in Croton, it dropped off a new plow.  At Johnstown, a crate of new china plates and a cider press were dropped off.  In Alexandria, the stove was unloaded and a wagon picked up the stove and delivered it to your home.  This is how LCL works.  At no time was a Tavern involved.

The Demonized Tavern.  The other movement that signed the death warrant for the Tavern was the Temperance Movement.  Alcoholism is a disease, make no mistake.  I have seen firsthand how alcoholism affects a person and it is not pretty.  On the other hand, the Temperance Movement in the Railroad era called for complete abstinance.  This had the effect of causing many Tavernkeepers, most of whom held strong religious beliefs, to reconsider their business and made the way for people like S. S. Anderson to open a hotel.

Some historical background.  When the Fitch family, early settlers in St. Albans, entered Licking County, after leaving Schodack, New York, on July 7, 1836.  They stopped in Newark on Monday, July 25, after completing their journey by canal.

On reaching Newark, we went to  the Green Tavern, called so from the color of the house, on the east side of the square.  Here we had dinner and then went up to Granville.  Here we stopped at the Boardman Hotel, now owned by Ewing.

So here we have the words of Mary Fitch as she describes a tavern.  It was a place for the weary traveller to rest and refresh.  Although the Fitches went that extra mile to make Granville, they did so to be that much closer to their new home.

The Tavern was a way of life.  It was a home to the keepers.  It was a source of revenue and a business center.  It was a focal point to local and traveller alike.  It is an era gone by and one which today, we scarce understand.  It is not about whiskey, it never was.  It is about community and comfort in a harsh world.

What Taverns, Inns, and Hotels were in St. Albans?  We can establish three main taverns within St. Albans and Alexandria,

⦁ Blood Tavern/Widow Blood's Tavern - This is the second oldest known tavern in St. Albans.  Further discussion of this tavern is in Paper #7.

⦁ The Old Red Tavern/Buxton's House - There is some ambiguity about the actual name and location, but you will find an explanation in Papers #8 and #8A.

⦁ Edge of the Woods - Located on the old Worthington Road, this presents a very enigmatic and intriguing tavern.  This tavern is covered in Paper #9.

There were other taverns that left no record,

⦁ Mills' Tavern - Located on Blood Hill, three cabins provided the earliest tavern in St. Albans.  These are briefly covered in Paper #8.

⦁ Samuel Moore's Tavern - This tavern was the only structure between the Fitch land and Alexandria.  No records are found beyod the property map.

⦁ "Orlando Dumbauld" Tavern - The only thing, as far as I know, that Orlando Dumbauld had to do with this is that the property he owned once played home to a tavern.

⦁ Santee's Tavern - This tavern was across from the present firehouse on Lot 8.  This was the old hemp and rope factory.  Little more is known.

Additionally, Alexandria had hotels,

⦁ The Patterson Hotel - The earliest hotel in Alexandria, some dispute exists over location.  This was purchased by an interim owner before S. S. Anderson purchased the establishment.

⦁ The Alexandria House - For a brief time, Ezekiel Whitehead ran a hotel in the old Van Ness house.  See Paper #14.  This is now the Alexandria Museum.

⦁ S. S. Anderson 1, 2, and 3 - Sam Anderson ran a hotel in at least two locations.

To sum it up.  The tavern was a vital institution from the early history of the colonies, through the western expansion, until the arrival of the railroads.  It was both customer and provider in the community.  It has dissappeared from today's society and has no replacement.

The Whiskey Papers #4 - The Great Awakening

The Whiskey Papers #4 - The Great Awakening

The Great Awakening was based on Biblical scripture.  Specifically, it was based on Isaiah 66:8 (Geneva Translation, 1599) "Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? shall the earth be brought forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children."  The Awakening was based on the concept of 'a nation born at once,' the United States of America.  This became the subject of pioneer revivals as the frontier went west and crossed the Ohio River.  The sense was that God would not bless a bunch of drunken idiots.  The Temperance Movement was born, mostly by women.

Temperence poster from 1874.

The Temperance Movement was exactly that.  It pointed out the problems of alcoholism but did not seek to ban alcohol.  Then, the Abolitionist Movement -- the Anti-Slavery Movement -- took center stage.  It was not until after the Civil War that the Temperance Movement began a concerted, concentrated, and coordinated effort.  In Ohio, Westerville took the lead.  There was the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), founded in 1874, and the Anti-Saloon League (ASL), founded in 1893, which advocated for dry laws everywhere.

Their point was no longer one of temperance.  Instead, the WCTU and ASL wanted nothing less than abstinence enforced by government.  Perhaps they rode on the success of the Abolitionists, perhaps the gained fervor, but following the American Civil War, the Temperance Movement now sought a total ban on all alcoholic beverages.

Little attention was paid to backlash.  Nothing but total abstinence was required.

To be sure, alcoholism is not pretty.  It is a disease.  Alcoholics Anonymous would not otherwise exist were alcoholism were but a fancy, like going to the zoo or something.

The framers of the Constitution made no provision for alcohol.  Rum trade was vital to this new country's survival.  Whiskey trade was also essential for slightly different reasons.  Rum was a commodity while whiskey served more humble and essential needs.

Following the American Revolution, the several States were in varying degrees of debt.  To solve this, Alexander Hamilton assumed the debt at a national level, then levied a regressive tax on whiskey.  The Whiskey Rebellion, while about taxation without representation, gained a bad name in public perception when George Washington stepped in to put it down.  Whiskey became fair game.

The Great Awakening was an influence on the Temperance movement.  The success of Federal government was an influence on the Temperance movement as well.

After the Civil War, the Temperance movement had room to grow.  After decades of meeting, lectures, and events, the Temperance movement made gains.  Soon enough, Townships, then Counties voted themselves dry.  The movement met with success in rural areas, but closing bars in cities proved a difficult obstacle for the Temperance movement.

By 1919, a sufficient number of States approved a Constitutional Amendment to ban alcohol, whether produced by distillation or fermentation.  This ushered in nothing less than an underground culture that ignored the law and continued pursuing alcohol through a variety of methods.  Ultimately, the government recognized the futility of the law and repealed it.

This allowed the Tenth Amendment to work as designed.  State and local governments were free to regulate alcohol.

By now, the damage was done.  For example, Terre Haute was, in pre-Prohibition times a major center for distilleries.  Now, grain that made Terre Haute's stills run is shipped to Kentucky's Whiskey Row.  Mash bills have been lost.  There are a few boutique distilleries that still produce a pre-Prohibition product...   Jim and Ellen Hough own one of these.  I am proud to be their friend.

The Whiskey Papers #5 - Dying For A Drink

 The Whiskey Papers #5 - Dying For A Drink

In many ways, Terre Haute, Indiana, is my hometown.  I loved going downtown to Schultz's.  In fact, a large portion of my coolest Hot Wheels were bought at Schultz's.  But that was by day...   in the 1960s.  Decades earlier, at night, Terre Haute was "Sin City."

The Marine Room at the Terre Haute House in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Billed as the "Crossroads of America," Terre Haute hosted the intersection of US 40 "The National Road" and US 41.  Crime Bosses from the Chicago Syndicates traveled south while East Coast Bosses traveled west.  They met, so it is said, at the Marine Room, located on the ground floor of the Terre Haute House, a five-star hotel.  Many of their 'associates' resided nearby at the Terre Haute Federal Correction Unit.  Terre Haute was filled with all sorts of illicit behavior.  Edith Brown (no relation) was a prominent madam whose 'hospitality' was known far and wide. Terre Haute was home to one of the largest whiskey makers in the country.  Whiskey money helped the Hulman family acquire the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - you have, no doubt, heard of the Indianapolis 500.  To be fair, the Hulman's also owned Clabber Girl Baking Powder and gave my mother and her sister their first paychecks.  Terre Haute had gambling, illegal boxing matches, and law enforcement agencies that turned a blind eye towards all this and more.  How could I call Terre Haute home?

Newark, Ohio, was not much better.  In some ways, it was worse.  I still shudder when I see childhood images in my mind of the orphanage, but I digress.

Licking County voted to go dry -- that is, to ban alcohol production and sales -- in 1909.  Many saloons, especially in Newark, disregarded the vote and remained open.  The mayor of Newark was fine with that, and consequently, so were the police.  The Licking County Sheriff did not seem to want to enforce dry laws either.  In 1910, a Columbus temperance organizer, Wayne B. Wheeler of the Anti-Saloon League, hired some detectives from Cleveland to come to Newark to close these bars down.  Warrants were issued by Dr. E. J. Barnes, the mayor of Granville, who also swore the detectives in as officers of the law.  Granville was strongly temperate at that time.

One night, July 8, 1910, the hired detectives met their match.  The detectives were overwhelmed in a saloon brawl.  Carl Etherington, a 17-year-old who had lied about his age to join the detective force, managed to escape the melee and run down the street in escape.  According to one source, a retired Newark policeman and bar owner, William Howard, stopped Carl.  Carl shot William Howard.  Another source states the saloon was run by Lewis Bolton and William Howard caught and beat Carl.  Either way, Carl claimed self-defense.  William Howard would later die of his injuries.  Carl was taken to jail.

By 9:00 PM, a crowd, estimated to be 5,000 in number, gathered outside the jail in retaliation to the Anti-Saloon League's interference in local matters and the shooting of Howard.  Before 10:30 PM, a group stormed the side doors of the jail and took Carl.  By 10:35 PM, Carl Etherington was hanging dead, having been beaten to death by hammer blows to the head, from a telegraph pole at South Second Street and South Park Place -- the southeast corner of the Courthouse Square.  Carl was lynched.

Governor Judson Harmon (D), a Denison University alumnus (Class of 1866), intervened to restore order in Newark.  Governor Harmon removed Mayor Herbert Atherton and Sheriff William Linke from office and charged them with dereliction of duty.  The event received national attention.  Of the mob, 25 were indicted on charges of murder in the first degree, ten more were brought on charges of assault and battery, an additional 21 townsmen were charged with rioting, and two more perjured themselves.  How could I call Newark home?

Immediately, we should ask, 'How did it get to this?'  To answer, we must go back a hundred years or so.

300 Drys on South Liberty Street.

On Tuesday, December 8, 1908, 300 St Albans residents paraded through Alexandria to celebrate the passing of dry laws.  Licking County would pass dry laws in 1909.  The dry laws, as exhibited, faced opposition in urban areas, especially in Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati.  On January 16, 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified.  This amendment banned the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes[...]"  Temperance had succeeded.  By December 5, 1933, the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment.  From that time, the Temperance Movement waned in power and the Ninth and Tenth Amendments -- which allowed state and local governments to make their own decisions -- have been sufficient to provide law.

I think back to Terre Haute.  Terre Haute sits very close to Illinois.  Indiana laws were more restrictive.  We all knew that all you had to do was cross the border and go to Paris or Marshall, Illinois...  but, the police knew it too.

So how did we get here?  A pendulum swinging between good and evil?  Decades of pressure on politicians or populist fervor?  Doing the right thing?  You decide.  I will not tell you what to think...  All I know is that Carl Etherington died for a drink.

The Whiskey Papers #6 - Rose Whiskey

The Whiskey Papers #6 - Rose Whiskey

Today, whiskey seems to have one purpose for its existence.  This has not always been the case.  In pre-Prohibition times, whiskey was considered a necessity around the house.  If your child had a sore throat, whiskey was mixed with honey or apple cider or even maple syrup to produce a cough medicine.  Cut yourself on a rusty nail?  Pour some whiskey on it to clean out the wound.  Wild Turkey a bit gamey?  (Pun intended)  There is an old British recipe that uses a whiskey brine to tame the game.  Doctor taking off a limb?  Here's a shot of whiskey.  Short on cash?  A jug of whiskey can get you some chickens.  In fact, in nearby Union Township, the first still was fired up in 1809.  Several more followed in as many years there.  As you will see, there was method to this madness.

Technically, any distillate produced from a grain is a whiskey; distilled fruit produces brandy.  Whiskey, or more formally, bourbon, is a spirit made of at least 51% corn.  Rye, obviously, is made from at least 51% rye.  Scotch is made in Scotland from malted barley.  Most whiskey mash bills use corn well into the 70% range.  Other grains make up the remainder of the mash.  When complete, the barrel strength is usually around 120-130 Proof, or about 60-65% alcohol.  Modern distillers will water this down to 80 Proof, or 40% alcohol.  Early bourbons and ryes were rarely aged...   aging came later.  This is a rather simplistic view of whiskey production.  Reality is, of course, a bit more complicated.

Why is the mash bill important?  Nearby Union Township grew corn, lots of corn.  They had an abundance of corn.  After they had enough to meet their needs, excess corn meal was used to make whiskey.  Transporting corn was not practical then and thanks to Alexander Hamilton, selling the more easily transported whiskey was not profitable.  You see, going back to the earliest estate farms over a hundred years earlier, the miller also had a still somewhere nearby.  In Union Township, when you ran out of a sack of corn meal, you took a sack full of corn and dropped it by the miller.  You also dropped a jug off in his stillhouse.  As the miller came to your sack, he ground the corn and left the sack of meal for you to pick up.  The process worked the same for your jug of whiskey.  Through good rotation, you never ran out of corn meal... or whiskey.

The Rose family were early and prominent settlers in Licking County.  Deacon Timothy Rose was one of Licking County's first Justices.

Helon Rose (Yes, HIS name is spelled H-e-l-o-n) came to St Albans Township in 1814 and introduced the first still to St. Albans some four years later.  Helon was associated with the Munson family and the Roses and Munsons were prominent in early Granville history, but that is for another time.  These families also owned hundreds of acres in St. Albans.  Not coincidently, the first grist mill began work that same year.  The still was located just east of Helon Rose's, later Lyman Carter's, house, near where the corn was.  Lyman Carter's house sat at the northeast corner of what we used to call Scott's Corners.  This was the former Helon Rose farm.  Later, the St. Albans Clock Factory would occupy this position.  The still did not operate long before it was sold to Dr. Enos Nichols, a short distance away along York Road.

Soon, more stills came to St. Albans, although the histories are rather silent about them.  Given the three main taverns in St. Albans, all along teamster and drover's routes, whiskey was probably an easy commodity to come by.  Likewise, the teamsters provided a ready demand for whiskey.  Supply and demand seem to work out quite well.  Personally, the thought of sitting on a hard wooden seat and being bounced down poorly maintained roads...   well, frequent medication might be required.

Several stories exist about young men coming from Denison University or Newark to have parties.  These stories also mention that these young men paid handsomely in good cash for their excesses.  Local tavern keepers never seemed to complain, although neighboring residents might.  Broken glassware and china littered the tavern grounds until buried by teamster traffic.

Because the road to Delaware ran from Granville through Alexandria, this road was heavily used by teamsters, often loaded dockside from the canal.  The grade from the Raccoon Creek flood plain to Granville Street remained unimproved until the Toledo & Ohio Central improved it when they crossed the old Granville Road (Raccoon Valley Road), and there was an additional hill from Granville Street to downtown, teamsters saw fit to rest their horses at the old Buxton Red Tavern.  The muddy morass that got them into Alexandria took both skill, patience, and the willpower of the team.  This was a perfect time for the teamster to self-medicate.

By the beginning of the 20th Century, Alexandria and St. Albans voted in their own Prohibition.  There is a series of popular pictures showing '300 Drys on Parade' marching on Main and South Liberty Streets before posing for a group portrait taken from the new S. S. Anderson Hotel.  No longer could whiskey be made or sold in Alexandria Village or St. Albans Township.  The Township went dry.  Lest I forget to mention, Noble Landon, the township's first clerk, had the honor of naming the township St. Albans after his native home in Vermont... in consideration of four gallons of whiskey supplied by Landon.

By 1900, Temperance Unions had painted a grim picture of whiskey as the source of violence, illness - both mental and physical, and ultimately early death.  Whiskey produced battered widows and orphans too broke to properly bury their beloved drunk.  Whiskey had gone from a pioneer necessity to the devil's drink whose absence would certainly be welcome.  By 1919, a distiller needed a special exemption to produce grain alcohol for medical needs.  The Nineteenth Amendment took effect on January 16, 1919 and banned any and all alcoholic beverages, anytime, anywhere.  This Amendment was repealed in 1933 by another Constitutional Amendment.  St. Albans has since allowed low content beverages - beer and wine - but remains dry with regard to the sale and production of whiskey.

I suspect that somewhere out there are a few old stills forgotten in time.

The Whiskey Papers #7 - Blood Hill

The Whiskey Papers #7 - Blood Hill

Frederick Blood was happy to make it to Granville.  In 1816, Fradrick -- as he spelled it -- moved from Carlisle, Massachusetts, to Licking County, Ohio.  On December 18, Blood and his family were in Newark but by New Year's Day, 1817, they were residing in Granville, probably at the Buxton Inn which had opened in 1812.  Blood was anxious to get going on his new farm west of what would become Alexandria.  Blood had obtained a liquor permit and appears in the tax records beginning in 1817 for his tavern.

Initially, Blood had difficulty obtaining a source for whiskey.  Helon Rose did not begin producing whiskey for another year, perhaps based on perceived market need.  Quite possibly, Blood found his source in Union County.  Along the way, Blood notes that growing grain is not profitable because it is plentiful in St. Albans and there is no real market for grain, everyone seemed to have plenty.  This is perhaps another reason for Rose to make whiskey.

Oddly, Blood seems a better farmer than innkeeper.  There are several reasons to say this,

• Blood constantly complains that he receives around 12-1/2 cents on the dollar because most currency is worthless.  To Blood's credit, he always paid his debts and taxes, no matter how short-changed he might have been.  At this time, banks were permitted to print their own currency.  There was no Federal control; State control was feeble.  Until Blood could get to the Bank in Granville, he never really knew how much money he had.
• Blood took great pride from his farm and orchard.  This included, as well, his livestock.  In particular, Blood took pride in his pork.  Hold that thought for a few pages.  Blood was very happy with the news of the Ohio-Erie Canal and a good market in Newark.  Blood saw the canal as a place to sell some pork.
• The main sustenance seems to come from his farm, not his inn.  To that end, Blood states on May 18, 1817, "I can stand at my own door and see 18 or 20 acres of my own wheat [...] I have made the people think I am a farmer," although Blood saw himself as an innkeeper.
• There are quite a few stories of Blood Tavern that suggest his Inn was, well, 'fun.'  There are anecdotes that while Blood's Tavern might have had more than a fair share travelers as guests, it was also a destination for local groups.

There are many reasons for calling Blood Hill by that name.  The only reason it is called Blood Hill is because Blood owned it.  For example, there was no horrific battle there during the French and Indian War.  The earliest settlement of what is now Johnstown-Alexandria Road and Castle Road occurred when Elijah Adams, Asa Plummer, and William Mills built cabins in the area in 1813.  Plummer opened a 'House of Entertainment' on the northeast corner.  This establishment has been described in some sources as a hotel or tavern and in other sources as a brothel.  Since brothels do not create much in the way of historical records, this is a difficult thing to prove.  Plummer sold out after a year or so to Mills, who continued to run it although some say Mills toned things down.  Mills continued to run the establishment for another year or so until he sold it to Fradrick Blood in 1816.

I do not know what Blood thought when he went to bed at night.  Blood was devoutly religious and highly respectful of the law.  In a letter, Blood's wife Mary praises her daughter for accepting Presbyterianism while sounding a little chagrin in mentioning her son has accepted Episcopalian-Methodist belief.  She excuses her son by stating, "At least he is a Christian."  The elder Blood seemed hard working to make ends meet, to make improvements to his farm, and was happy with his neighbors.  Blood took pleasure in the production of his 100 acres.  Blood seemed happy that his inn was located along a well-traveled road and seemed to do some business.  Blood died April 4, 1827.  Blood had been so sick he had let his farm go while barely maintaining his innkeeping business.  This was the only choice Blood could make but it left Mary in poor financial shape.  Her son stepped up to run the farm until he was called to preach on a Methodist Circuit some 70 miles away.  From this point, Blood Tavern became known as Widow Blood's Tavern.

We know from Dolly Beaumont that Mary Blood thought secret fraternities were "obnoxious" even though they provided her an income,

[... M]embers of the Masonic order [...] frequently held their meetings at the Blood tavern [sic].  [...] On one occasion when a meeting was in session, a candidate who was waiting in another room to be initiated [...] noticed that Mrs. Blood seemed rather conspicuously occupied with heating a poker in the fireplace.  She seemed intent upon getting it red hot.  At last, unable to restrain his curiosity, he asked the purpose of the red hot poker.  'Why, it's for the initiation,' she assured him, 'They always use a red hot poker.  I don't know what for, but I suppose it's to brand the candidate.'  The story goes that there was no initiation that night.

Doctor George B. Cash tells us that the Warden Boys of Newark wanted to use a neighbor's sleigh.  The neighbor promised they could borrow on the Fourth of July.  When this day came, the neighbor honored his commitment.  The Warden Boys hitched up a team of horses and drove the sleigh to Widow Blood's Tavern and back to Newark after some drinking.  The 30-mile round trip ruined the runners.  Walter Castle adds more detail to Cash's tale,

[...] The Widow Blood's tavern [sic] seems to have been a popular resort for many gay young blades from Newark [...]  They came out frequently for their parties which were usually both wild and reckless.  One particularly exclusive set always made it a point to conclude their festivities by smashing to bits all the China and glassware used in their party.  They always paid well for their fun.

[Author's Note:  When Walter Castle wrote this snippet, 'gay' was a synonym for happy and did not imply anything more.  The term 'blades' was synonymous with 'dashing young men.']

Blood arrived in Licking County in his mid-30s and died at the age of 59.  Blood's Tavern became Widow Blood's Tavern and today is no more.  All that remains is Blood Hill.  But I did have the opportunity to enjoy a pit-roasted whole hog in the front yard of Widow Blood's Tavern.

Today, we associate Blood Hill with Baker's Acres Greenhouse.

The Whiskey Papers #8 - Buxton's Old Red Tavern

The Whiskey Papers #8 - Buxton's Old Red Tavern

Buxton' 'Od Red' Tavern

I have great admiration for Orville and Audrey Orr.  When Eugene Brown stepped down as Principal from Alexandria, at the urging of Joesph Mills, Superintendent, the newly founded Northridge School District Board of Education hired Orville Orr to replace Gene.  Within a year, Orville bought the Buxton Inn in Granville.  The last time I saw Orville was shortly before he sold the business he had worked so hard to grow.  Orville was buying paint...    Orville was tireless and would probably be doing the painting himself.  There was not a single instance when Orville or Audrey were in the house, so to speak, that my wife and I were not immediately recognized, welcomed, and given such warm hospitality at the Buxton Inn.  Thank you Orville and Audrey for your commitment!

The Buxton Inn was, as is currently advertised, named after Major Horton Buxton.  This is the right Buxton family, but not St. Albans Buxton family.  I cannot say what persuaded the Buxton family to decide to become tavernkeepers, but they did.  Major Horton Buxton was a younger brother to Harry S. Buxton, a farmer in St. Albans.  The Buxtons came from a long line of military heritage.  Evenso, the entire frontage along the south side of West Main Street from Beechwood Drive to the Gas Station and Hawk's Nest was, at one time, Harry Buxton's farm.  Harry Buxton's farmhouse still stands across West Main Street fom the Baptist Church.  It is the father of the half-brothers, Harry and Horton, we are interested in.  This is David Buxton.

Buxton's 'Old Red' Tavern stood on Main Street west of the downtown block.  Today, a magnificent brick house, once owned by Neil and Marty Fisher, stands next to the old Harry and Helen Dumbauld house.  I always wondered why the Dumbauld house was built so close to the alley...   it was because Buxton's Tavern made it so.

So what of Buxton's Tavern?  It was a place for teamsters to stop.  It was a place for local business to be conducted.  It was a destination.  Harry Buxton would treat himself, from time to time, by going there for smoked oysters and crackers.  Apparently, Harry made quite a feast of this.  L. S. Chadwick, an informal historian weighs in on Buxton's Tavern,

It seems probable that the first hotel was kept by a Mr. Patterson, in the old building now in the rear of John Loyd's store (E.E. Thomas property), the building then on the corner and having a porch along the front side, but the first hotel of much notoriety was known as the "Old Red Tavern", standing on the lots of C.B. Buxton and the Town Hall, side towards Main Street, and kept for a number of years by David Buxton, the father of the Buxton boys now residing here. This building is now the rear end of the Beaumont store room (burned with the business block in 1905.) [...] as most travelers drank whiskey, and all taverns kept it for sale, hence the taverns were located every few miles on this main line of travel, and tavern keepers, among which was the Old Red Tavern and its owner David Buxton, Sr. did an enormous business.

[Author's Note:  The E. (Earl) E. Thomas property is now the Robinson Building.]

The 1870 Federal Census for Alexandria and St. Albans Township tells us more,

Buxton, David, age 70, keeps hotel, born in Vermont

Catharine, age 39, Female, keeping house, born in Virginia

David, age 38, Male, at home, born in Vermont

Charles, age 19, Male, works about the barn, born in Ohio

Harry, age 14, Male, at home, born in Ohio

Rufus, age 5, Male, at home, born in Ohio

Laura King, age 20, Female, domestic servant, born in Ohio

We know, from the 1866 map of Alexandria, that the Old Tavern was located on Lots 15 and 16 with the long side, or front, along Main Street.  The Dumbauld house is situated right on the alleyway on the west side of Lot 16 and was so sited to accomodate the Old Tavern.  Across the street was the Marandville house - one of the older houses in the town - now owned by the Hutchinsons.  Finally, a building owned by Mrs. B Curtiss stands on the alleyway across from the Old Tavern.  This would eventually be taken over by S.S. Anderson and become the old S.S. Anderson Hotel.

The Oliver and Milburn advertisement helps date the picture of the Old Red Tavern to after 1870.  By then, Oliver Plows of South Bend, Indiana, and two major stockholders - George Milburn of Milburn Wagons and Clement Studebaker of Studebaker Manufacturing - had a dealership as close as Mansfield, Ohio.  From Mansfield, Oliver and Milburn relied on local distributorships. Oliver Plows were highly sought because of the special quenching method used by Oliver that allowed their plows to cut through sticky soil with ease.  Also, the presence of a gaslight allows us to narrow the picture to an even later date, certainly closer to 1900.  We also find an advertisement for Watson Davison and his carriage business in the March 1881 edition of "The Church and Home," a local publication.  Of note is the last line of Wat Davison's advertisement, "Office and Shop, formerly Buxton Hotel, Alexandria, Ohio"

Over a century ago, long-time Alexandria and St. Albans Township resident L. S. Chadwick wrote a series of articles for The Johnstown Independent containing insightful memories of Alexandria. The following passage was written after 1905 and is quoted from the history, Alexandria and St. Albans Township, Licking County, Ohio, Robert Price, editor,

It seems probable that the first hotel was kept by a Mr. Patterson, in the old building now in the rear of John Loyd's store (E.E. Thomas property), the building then on the corner and having a porch along the front side, but the first hotel of much notoriety was known as the "Old Red Tavern", standing on the lots of C.B. Buxton and the Town Hall, side towards Main Street, and kept for a number of years by David Buxton, the father of the Buxton boys now residing here. This building is now the rear end of the Beaumont store room (burned with the business block in 1905.)

The main route from Granville, the Delaware Road as it was known, went through a swamp surrounding Lobdell Creek that was so marshy that a courderoy road of Beech logs was laid. The road was so bad that Chadwick states that a five to six foot depth of gravel was piled there to make the road passable. Taken together, the Old Tavern would probably have made  a welcome stop for teamster and traveler alike.  I speculate this improvement to Raccoon Valley Road - the old Delaware Road - was made when the Toledo & Ohio Central Rail Road was driven through to make the grade crossing somewhat level.

L. S. Chawick continues

Perhaps no business of the early history of the village surpassed that of tavern keeping, as it was then called; the road from the eastern states, via Pittsburgh, Zanesville, and Newark to Delaware and the west [...] as most travelers drank whiskey, and all taverns kept it for sale, hence the taverns were located every few miles on this main line of travel, and tavern keepers, among which was the Old Red Tavern and its owner David Buxton, Sr. did an enormous business..

Buxton's Old Red Tavern was not just for travelers.  It served as a central meeting place for local residents.  It is said much business - unofficial and official - was conducted within its walls.  Voting took place there as well as business deals and property transactions.

If David Buxton was doing a healthy business at his tavern with teamsters, travelers, and local residents... what happened? The Prohibitionist did not close him down; his business was over years earlier.  The Ohio Canal did not replace the horse and wagon, in fact, it would have strengthened it as a method of transportation to move goods from Newark westward.  But the Toledo & Ohio Central RR - and I would also include the Central Ohio Railroad's  Panhandle Route - stopped at every town along the way.  I believe these railroads replaced the freight traffic that would have been carried by wagon through town.  This would serve as explanation... David Buxton saw dwindling business.  Combined with Buxton's age, it is now much easier to understand what happened to the Old Tavern.  It was an unexpected consequence.

David Buxton died on July 12, 1879. Sometime in the 1880s, the Old Tavern was no longer - the Old Tavern seemed to die with David Buxton.  Harry Buxton notes that he paid 50 cents for Oysters and Crackers at the Buxton House on December 31, 1881.  But by March 1881, Watson Davison had begun his wagon business in the Old Tavern.  Around 1900, the building was dismantled and stored on Lot 14.  In 1905, it was destroyed by the Great Fire.  The Fire Chief, Watson Davison, would have seen it burn.  The age of the tavern was over.

As a note, there is an addendum, The Whiskey Papers #8A, The Buxton House.

The Whiskey Papers #9 - The Edge of the Woods

The Whiskey Papers #9 - The Edge of the Woods

The Edge of the Woods is one of St. Albans' most intriguing and enigmatic taverns.

The Edge of the Woods - Davison Farm, as it appears today.

George Davison married Martha Watson in Yorkshire, England, in 1847.  On arriving in Newark in 1848, George's in-laws, John and Mary Watson, bought a farm along the old Worthington Road (old SR 161).  George and Martha moved to a farm near Luray, then in 1853, joined John and Mary south of Alexandria.  This is also the location of the "Edge of the Woods" Tavern, a popular teamster stop to rest horses and oxen, drovers and drivers approximately halfway from Newark to Worthington.  The family's oldest son was Watson Davison who bought The Old Red Tavern - David Buxton's Tavern - about 1880.  Watson began making wagons there until 1885 when automation made making wagons by hand an unprofitable business.    Although Wat might have wanted to be a wagon-maker, he became an implement dealer who sold Oliver Plows and Millburn Wagons.

Watson Davison was always someone I wish I could bump into at Ragamuffins, our beloved, local coffee place.  Perhaps Wat's buddy, Jud Carter and his daughter Phronie could invite me to pull up a chair.  This would have been a threesome to talk to.  Speaking of Jud Carter, Jud's father was Lymon Carter.  Lymon owned Helon Rose's old farm and was not far east of the Watson farm.   Wat married Hester Beaumont, daughter of Isaiah and Hester (Carpenter) Beaumont, foundation families in St. Albans.  The Davisons and Watsons were relative new-comers but quickly became central to the St. Albans community.

Let us return to Wat's grandparents.  George, Sr., was known as a man in the mold of kindness and benevolence while displaying strength and virtue.  Martha made herself available as a midwife; many children in St. Albans were born and tended to by Martha Davison.  Martha made herself available at the other end of the spectrum by tending to grieving families, and at all points in between.  George and Martha were dairy farmers who turned most of their milk into cheese which they sold in Newark at the market.  Yet, almost no records exist of the Edge of the Woods Tavern.

What we do know comes from an unattributed article in Alexandria and St. Albans Township.  This tavern was a log building that, by 1900, was in rapid decay.  There was a small lot next to the building that allowed horses and oxen to be rested and fed.  There was a well located 125 feet to the east the tavern.  The tavern itself was located on the Watson/Davison farm at the north-south line dividing the township in half.

The next evidence comes from the maps.  In exaxining the plats, the land west of the Davison farm, where we might expect to find the Edge of the Woods, is under a seeming constant change of ownership.  The real constant is Ephraim Eastman's farm to the east of George Davison's 100 acre farm.  The 1866 map shows two buildings along the Worthington Road on the Eastman property.

So where do we stand?  One source states George Davison had the Edge of the Woods Tavern on his property; yet, Ephriam Eastman clearly has two buildings along the Worthington Road.  The Davision's were known for their hospitality as well as cheese production, but nothing is known of the Eastmans.  What do we say?

There stood a tavern along the Worthington Road in the East-West center of the township along the Worthington Road called the Edge of the Woods.  It was called so because the woods took off west and north from there.  One source states the tavern was on the Davison farm while the maps suggest it was on the Eastman farm.  At this time, no clear evidence to exists to suggest which is correct - Davison's or Eastman's Tavern.  Either might be correct.

I can imagine sipping a Whiskey and enjoying some Farmer's Cheese on a wooden plank with some local Ham, Roast Beef, or roasted Fowl.  Welcome to the Edge of the Woods.