The original wooden tavern in Salem, North Carolina, was built in 1775. A tavern was necessary to accommodate travelers and regional residents that the Moravians wanted to come to Salem to purchase their products and to possibly hear about Christ. The Moravians, however, placed the tavern at the edge of the town so as to have those non-residents have the least possible impact on the townspeople. Originally, the tavern had no front windows because the residents didn't
want anyone to be able to see the activities that were taking place
inside.
The married couple chosen to manage the church-owned tavern had to have a good head for business and be strong witnesses for the Moravian faith.
In 1784, the wooden tavern burned down (not unusual for those times) and
a masonry building, using some of the 1775 basement walls, was
constructed.
"Salem's most famous visitor stayed here in 1791. President George
Washington, touring the southern battlefields of the Revolutionary War,
spent two nights in Salem, attending a service, studying the waterworks
system, and speaking to the townspeople."
The tavern was given a larger lot in order to accommodate a barn for putting up traveler's horses and a "dependency" for storing supplies used by the inn keeper. Barrels of pickles? crackers? flour? sugar?
(Did you know that in 1814 at the Battle of New Orleans the British tried to use barrels of sugar around their cannons as protection against Andrew Jackson' cannonballs? When the barrels were hit and exploded the sugar showered down over the British cannon which were hot from firing. The sugar melted and made a sticky goo on everything. It was impossible to fire the cannon, and, with the help of sugar, Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans.)
Back to the Salem Tavern...
You can buy a meal here which will be served by folks in period dress - and the meal will be what might have been served to a traveler in the 1700's.
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