RUSHVILLE By J H Adamson

Published Oct. 31, 1929

The following paper on “Early Taverns in Rushville and Vicinity, was given by Mrs. J H Adamson at the last meeting of Rushville Tuesday club. Rushville, which was previously called Federal Hollow was named in 1814 in honor of Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia, At one time it was also called Burning Springs from the natural gas springs one mile southwest of the village. Advent of the turnpike road brought two distant innovations to this lake country, the stagecoach and the tavern. It was the stage which made the tavern where brooded romance, adventure and life and where the door of hospitality opened wide in a wild new land. There's public places were institutions in a community. They were the center of the community social life, and the forum where topics were discussed. When the creaking stagecoach began its march over the corduroy roads, through mud, and over the protruding stumps of trees, taverns sprang up. By hundreds in the lake country. It is said that the first public house in Rushville was in the home of Mrs. Vorse and was kept by Benza Whitman. This was the house where Marcus Whitman was born and which stood on the site of Mrs. Albert Middaugh’s home. In 1792 Elias Gilbert opened a tavern at the foot of Gilbert St. The first merchant in Rushville was Philander Woodworth, who opened a tavern about 1810 at the corner of Main and Gilbert St..

I think this site continued to be used for a tavern until the Gird House burned in 1911. A tavern was kept on the site where George Walther now lives. The house was of the New England style of that day with two large square rooms below and two above, a small hail with an elaborate front door, and a lean to on the back which contained the kitchen. This house stood directly on the road with a porch extending the length of the building so that teams drove right up to the porch. We have no record of the year it was built but in 1828 David Hulburt sold it to William Fanning. There seemed to be no agitation of the license questions in that early day but anyone who chose could keep a tavern. Mr. Fanning purchased all household goods with the house including bar and contents decanters, glasses, a quantity of run, elder, whiskey, wine, brandy and a Seth Thomas Clock which inventoried for $25.00.

Immigrants from Europe had commenced and forgeon would sometimes stop at the tavern. One day a Swedish family, father, mother, and three children came to the tavern. Their language was to understand but at last a man who found who could interpret that they wished their table by themselves and furnished as they were accustomed in their own country. The father slept in the barn on his chest with his dog beside him. They stayed for a week and did the landlady in five franc pieces of silver which she later had made into silver spoons which her descendants cherish to this day. Mr. Fanning ran this tavern successfully for a year before changing his occupation. An Englishman by the name of Hunt kept this tavern at one time. His daughter Ann Hunt died with tubercular trouble while living there and was the first woman buried in Rushville cemetery.This tavern changed hands many times till the year 1864 when it burned. The west wind carried the sparks across the street and burned Mr. Chamberlains home. Mrs. Chamberlin had a small baby at the time and they were carried to a neighbor’s house. That baby was Frank Chamberlin who lived on the West Side of Chamberline who lived on the West Side of Canandaigua Lake in his later life, as many here will remember. Mr. Chamberlin at one time kept the tavern at the corner of main and Gilbert St. The tavern at Ferguson’s corner was built more than 50 years ago by Walter Ferguson father of Mrs. Alice Fitch. It was built To accommodate the drovers with they’re stock and the lumbermen going from Prattsburg in Geneva. There was a large ballroom on the top floor of the building. Straw ticks were made; many of them from home spun linen and filed with straw. Often the ball room floor would be covered with these ticks where the travelers slept. At Middlesex the early tavern was kept by John Walford, whose wife was a sister to the first Michael Pearce and was the first white woman buried in this section. She died in 1791 and he walked to Penn Yan through the woods and brought her coffin home on a wheelbarrow. She was buried on a knoll across the road from Oscar Tailor’s home. Michael Pearce was Mrs.. Adamson's great grandfather and she now has in her possession the deed which was issued by Arnold Potter when he bought the farm that is still in the family. A tavern was kept in Potter by Peleg Thomas and one south of Middlesex by the Dunton family. Another one farther south on the Naples road was kept by the Lee family, and a third one was at Parrish’s. This last home has been kept in the parish family. Large ballrooms were over al these taverns. Rushville was incorporated as a village in 1864 and at that time there were 31 houses. At the present time there are 145 houses and one tavern.