"Proper Entertainment for Horse and Man": The Middle Ford Ferry Tavern at Monocacy National Battlefield
Beasley J and Gwaltney T. "Proper Entertainment for Horse and Man": The Middle Ford Ferry Tavern at Monocacy National Battlefield. In Proceedings of the Society of Historical Archaeology. Williamsburg, Virginia. January 12, 2007. Society of Historical Archaeology
In 2004, using a combination of oral tradition, historic research, and traditional field methods, archeologists discovered a mid-eighteenth-century tavern, the oldest recorded historic site at Monocacy National Battlefield. The tavern was associated with the Middle Ford ferry, constructed in the late 1740s to carry the Georgetown Road over the Monocacy River. When first established, the Middle Ford Ferry tavern was at the very edge of the western frontier, in an area known to colonial settlers as “the Barrens.” After the French and Indian War, however, Frederick, Maryland emerged as an important industrial and commercial center, eventually becoming Maryland’s second-largest city and the gateway to the West. The Middle Ford ferry and tavern remained active throughout this period of growth until they were abandoned around 1830. Archeological research at the tavern site provides a rare glimpse of a rural tavern, and also provides insight into the growth of transportation and commerce in the Potomac River backcountry
- Type
- Conference Proceeding Paper
- Authors
- Beasley, Joy; Gwaltney, Tom
- Units
- MONO , NCR
- Keywords
- archeology, commerce, ferry, Georgetown Road, history, Maryland, Middle Ford, Monocacy, Monocacy River, tavern, transportation