Landing at Norfolk, Virginia, Baily was immediately introduced to
an American tavern
Landing at Norfolk, Virginia, Baily was immediately introduced to
an American tavern. Like most travelers, he was surprised to find
that American taverns were ‘boarding-places,’ frequented by
crowds of ‘young, able-bodied men who seemed to be as perfectly
at leisure as the loungers of ancient Europe.’ In those days of
few newspapers, the tavern everywhere in America was the center
of information; in fact, it was a common practice for travelers
in the interior, after signing their names in the register, to
add on the same page any news of local interest which they
brought with them. The tavern habitues, Baily remarks, did not
sit and drink after meals but ‘wasted’ their time at billiards
and cards. The passion for billiards was notorious, and taverns
in the most out-of-the-way places, though they lacked the most
ordinary conveniences, were nevertheless provided with billiard
tables. This custom seems to have been especially true in the
South; and it is significant that the first taxes in Tennessee
levied before the beginning of the nineteenth century were the
poll tax and taxes on billiard tables and studhorses!
