In recent notes, we have been traveling around in Fauquier County, Virginia. John Gott has written what it was like to be a colonial traveler. This note quotes him extensively.
Accommodations for travelers through Fauquier County in the colonial period were found at "ordinaries". Attempts have been made to equate these with English wayside inns and taverns, but they were not the same. Travel was infrequent and, for long periods, suspended altogether because of the condition of the roads. No innkeeper could support his family or maintain a staff to take care of this erratic business. A planter was, therefore, licensed to "keep an ordinary at his house", and that is literally what he did. He provided food, drink, and a night's lodging for man and beast, but he could not disrupt his normal activities on that account. European travelers were annoyed that they could not have food and drink on arrival, but had to wait until the next normal meal hour.
They could not expect a private room. In fact, they could not expect even a bed to themselves. Fastidious travelers might demand clean sheets and it was considered courteous to remove at least one's boots before going to bed. There were no signs identifying an "ordinary", but handbills plastered around the entrance, usually under a long narrow porch, made them easy to spot. Food was plentiful, but had a monotonous sameness. The main difference in price depended on whether it was it was "hott" or cold.
Then, as now, the quickest and easiest profit was made at the bar. West Indies rum and French brandy were sold by the gallon and usually was made into punch. Peach or apple brandy of local manufacture was cheaper. Imported Claret, Sherry, Madeira or Port was sold by the quart bottle and was more expensive, especially Claret at five shillings in 1760.
The County Courts set up a sort of price control to keep unscrupulous innkeepers from excess profits; however, the Court refused to grant licenses "to poor persons under the pretense of Charity, but to such only as kept good Houses and a constant supply of all necessary Entertainment". Ladies were not expected to travel. Those who did and wrote about it, seem to have spent most of their time in acute discomfort or mortal terror.
These remarks of John Gott were taken from the " The Fauquier Heritage Society News " of April/July 1998. The Fauquier Heritage Society is dedicated to the history of all of Fauquier County's inhabitants. They are currently working to save and adapt the Old Salem Meeting House, Marshall's oldest building, as a "monument to the spirit that created a new nation". People interested in joining the Society should write to them at P.O. Box 548, Marshall, VA 20116.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.