Historic furnishings report - Mount Washington Tavern

Demer, John

Mount Washington Tavern is a unit of Fort Necessity National Battlefield. The Tavern, a three-and-a-half-story brick structure with a detached reconstructed wagon shed, is located on the south side of U.S. Route 40 (formerly the National Road), about one mile west of Farmington (Fayette County), Pennsylvania. The most effective approach to interpreting Mount Washington Tavern is to tie its furnishings to a historical document. The ideal document does not exist- one that would include original furnishings documented by interior illustrations. This level of documentation exists for a few nineteenth-century sites, but not for Mount Washington Tavern. This report focuses principally on furnishings of taverns and inns on the National Road in Henry Clay and Wharton Townships, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. These townships are located “on the mountain,” to use a historical and contemporary description of a locale in the Allegheny Mountains. If we assume Mount Washington Tavern was built by 1830, it served travelers on the National Road for a 25-year period from about 1830 to 1854. If it was not completed until after 1830, Mount Washington Tavern served travelers for fewer than 25 years. The length of time Mount Washington Tavern actually operated as a functioning tavern for travelers is not critical to its interpretation. Any interpretation of Mount Washington is tied directly to travel on the National Road because travel created the need for taverns.

Historic furnishings report - Mount Washington Tavern

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