Early Rye Taverns and Inns
Aside from providing for travelers, taverns served an essential need for locals as a social gathering place. There were many undocumented taverns in Rye, NH. Many people opened their homes for weary travelers and served food and drink, sometimes serving ardent spirits. Sometimes homes were opened only to serve beer and stronger spirits. This became a problem in the 1800s and town reports record the efforts of officials to close down these illegal pubs.
The former Garland Tavern in Rye, NH.
The First tavern of Rye
Robinson Treferrin (probably Trefethen) came to Rye from New Castle (Great Island) in 1747 [Parsons, 109] and conducted a tavern there until 1756, when he sold it to Simon, Peter, and Benjamin Garland. The Garlands managed the tavern together for three years; Benjamin bought out his brothers and ran the tavern alone until 1799. It was the most well-known tavern in town because of its location, especially as a gathering place to socialize and talk politics after church services. The house still stands at 595 Washington Road.
Location of the former Scadgel Tavern (c. 1755), located in Rye, NH.
Former Taverns
Benjamin Scadgel operated an inn and tavern near the intersection of Sagamore and Wallis Roads prior to 1755. Scadgel sold it to Ebenezer Wallis in 1758 and it ceased to remain a tavern. [Parsons, 110] It burned down in 1798 and a new house was built on the same foundation. It was located at 321 Wallis Road.
Rye Beach Inn 1910, Rye, NH
Other Innkeepers
John Loverin kept an inn “east of the meeting house, on the road to Portsmouth” from 1756 to 1757. He sold it to Capt. Samuel Leavitt, who conducted it as an inn for a short time. [Parsons, 111]
Paul Randall owned an inn in west Rye on Washington Road between Grove and West Roads. In 1763, he sold his property to Joseph Libbee, who continued to run an inn there until his death a year later. At that time, Joseph’s brother Abraham Libbee ran a tavern there until it burned in 1787. [Parsons, 111]
William Sleeper (b. 1775) kept a tavern on the north corner of West and South Roads for many years. The house still stands and is very distinctive for its extended two-story front door and second floor window. [Parsons, 61]
Source:
Parsons, Langdon Brown. History of the Town of Rye, New Hampshire: From Its Discovery and Settlement to December 31, 1903. United States: Rumford Print. Company, 1905.
