Along this thirty-seven-foot road, of which twenty-four feet were
laid with stone, the new era of American inland travel
progressed
Along this thirty-seven-foot road, of which twenty-four feet were
laid with stone, the new era of American inland travel
progressed. The array of two-wheeled private equipages and other
family carriages, the stagecoaches of bright color, and the
carts, Dutch wagons, and Conestogas, gave token of what was soon
to be witnessed on the great roads of a dozen States in the next
generation. Here, probably, the first distinction began to be
drawn between the taverns for passengers and those patronized by
the drivers of freight. The colonial taverns, comparatively few
and far between, had up to this time served the traveling public,
high and low, rich and poor, alike. But in this new era members
of Congress and the elite of Philadelphia and neighboring towns
were not to be jostled at the table by burly hostlers, drivers,
wagoners, and hucksters. Two types of inns thus came quickly into
existence: the tavern entertained the stagecoach traffic, while
the democratic roadhouse served the established lines of
Conestogas, freighters, and all other vehicles which poured from
every town, village, and hamlet upon the great thoroughfare
leading to the metropolis on the Delaware.
