SIGNS OF THE TIMES Salvatore G. Cilella, Jr., Executive Director Historic Bethlehem, Inc.
"Signs were hung out on all sides to allure him; some to catch him by the appetite, as the tavern and victualling cellar. .." Henry David Thoreau, Walden 1854.
he tradition of good food and drink in America's taverns nd inns has been encrusted in the myth and romance of the "good old days." In reality, the forerunners of today's modern hotels were quite primitive. Although they provided shelter and sometimes a meager sustenance, they were often drafty, uncomfortable and crowded. Travel was not a recreational diversion but a necessity. Laws governing taverns and the use of spirituous waters date back as far as 1633, according to the Connecticut Historical Society's Morgan B. Brainard 's Tavern Signs. At that time the Massachusetts General Court passed a law forbidding the sale of "strong waters" without the governor's permission. Nothing strong was permitted to Indians. Despite New England's several restricting laws, taverns mushroomed as fast as the countryside's picturesque white churches. Mary C. Crawford noted in her book Social Life in Old New England that many taverns were built immediately next to the town meeting house. With the inns came the tavern signs. Jean Lipman has pointed out in her book American Folk Decoration that tavern, trade, and inn signs "make up one of the largest groups of folk decoration." Despite that fact, very little information exists on the subject. Practically every commercial establishment of the 18th and early 19th century possessed a sign advertising its goods and services. Signs ranged from the cigar store Indian to the barber pole. Generally, they had a threefold purpose according to Erwin Christensen's Index ofAmerican Design. Primarily, signs were designed for the general populace—
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few of whom could read. Most signs depicted food, drink, or in the case of trade symbols, actual pictures of merchandise. It is an irony of historic development that today's traffic signs are experiencing a revival of symbols at the expense of words. A second, yet basic purpose was commercial—to sell goods and advertise services. Third, the sign reflected the taste, wealth, and standing of the proprietor whose shop was depicted by his sign. The craftsman or sign painter was, as Christensen has described him, "below the level" of the portrait painter. Many portraitists began as sign painters; some became full-time portraitists but continued as sign painters to supplement their income. Nathaniel Wales of Litchfield, Connecticut, a portrait painter, advertised in 1806: "Tavern signs may be had with different devices, glass signs, neatly enamelled, with gilt letters; or any common gilt or plain sign, as may best suit the employer." In 1808, Abner Reed advertised a supply of signs "ready painted of various devices, the name only wanting to complete them for hanging." Stephanus Knight did everything from move houses to paint signs. His gravestone inscription—as quoted in Morgan Brainard's "A Jack of All Trades"— sums up his active life and is probably typical of the tavern sign painter. It read: Stephanus Knight Born 1 772 Died Feb. 16, 1810 Painter, Gilder, Carpenter Joiner, Mason, Plasterer Sign Painter, etc. He was a busy man. Small wonder that he lived but 38 years. Few pre-Revolutionary War tavern signs are extant. The earliest known surviving specimen is a sign referred to as the "E.B." sign dated 1749. It is part of the large Morgan B. Brainard collection of signs now in the Connecticut Historical Society. The New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown, New York, possesses a fine though not large assemblage of business and commercial signs rich in variety. Ten of these can be tentatively identified as inn or tavern signs. They are: "Good Food and Drink," "Andrew Jackson," "J. Williams," "Bull's Head," "R. Chadwick," "American House," "Sheaf of Barley," "J. Wells," "C. Hotchkis," and "Bump." The first four bear no resemblance to the traditional, flat, woodenpaneled sign so often associated with these symbols. The most delightful is a three-dimensional, wood sculpture in the shape of a man with a top hat, figure 1, carved in the tradition of the cigar store Indian. It is three feet high and has the legend "Good Food and Drink" inscribed on its base. Its carver is unknown but the date has been estimated circa 1810. Fortunately, the provenance of the figure is documented: it is from the King of Prussia Inn near Doylestown,Penn47