The Old Pike / A History of the National Road, with Incidents, Accidents, and Anecdotes Thereon

by Thomas B. Searight

Recalling a time when all hearts were akin

As they rested at night in that welcoming inn.”

James Newton Matthews.

Boonsboro is a small town at the foot of South Mountain in Maryland, and in the palmy days of the National Road was a lively village. Old wagoners and stage drivers spread its fame, but railroad conductors are silent as to its memory. The Slifer Brothers kept tavern in Boonsboro in the olden time. Their house was not a wagon stand. One of the Slifer brothers, as before stated, claimed to be the inventor of the “rubber,” brake, as it is commonly called. At the west end of Boonsboro the widow Galwix kept a wagon stand and did a large business. She was the widow of John Galwix, hereinbefore mentioned as a fancy wagoner. Robert Fowler kept a tavern in Boonsboro as early as 1835 and a wagon stand on the north side of the road.

Three and a half miles west of Boonsboro Henry and Jacob Fosnock, Germans, kept a wagon stand, which was well patronized. The property was owned by the Fosnocks, and they made money with their tavern. They were bachelors, but had an unmarried sister, Susan, who acted in the capacity of hostess. She subsequently became the wife of the old wagoner, Joseph Crampton. The Fosnocks were at the point mentioned as late as 1842.

Funkstown appears next in sight. Funkstown, another old village identified with the by-gone glories of the old pike. The name of this village brings to mind the once familiar form of John Funk, an old wagoner. John lived at or near Funkstown, and his family may have given the name to the village. Funkstown is located on Little Antietam creek, about seventy miles west of Baltimore. Fifty years ago there was a paper mill and a grist mill at Funkstown, and they may be there yet, and others in addition. At the east end of Funkstown, Joseph Watts kept a wagon stand, and competed for the custom of the wagoners with William Ashton, who kept a similar tavern at the west end of the town. Each did a good business. Ashton will be remembered as the athletic wagoner, who leaped over the top of a road wagon at Petersburg. He knew the wants of wagoners and served them well at his old tavern. He was the owner of two fine six-horse teams, and kept them constantly on the road.

After Funkstown, come the classic shades and handsome streets of Hagerstown. Hagerstown was always a prominent point on the road. It ranked with Wheeling, Washington, Brownsville, Uniontown, Cumberland, and Frederic. Hagerstown was a station for the stage lines. It outlived the road, and flourishes as one of the best towns of Maryland. The only old wagon stand in Hagerstown was that of John B. Wrench. But Hagerstown was rather too stylish a place for old wagoners, and Wrench gave up his house there in 1842, and removed to Piney Grove, where he found a more congenial atmosphere. He subsequently kept one of the old taverns at Grantsville, from which point he emigrated to Iowa, and died there.

Four and a half miles west of Hagerstown, an old wagon stand was kept by David Newcomer. It was a stone house, on the north side of the road. Newcomer furnished good entertainment, and was well favored with customers, mostly wagoners. He was a Quaker, and a money maker. He dealt in horses, in addition to tavern keeping. When offering a horse for sale, his wife was accustomed to say in the hearing of the person proposing to buy: “Now, David, thee must not sell that favorite horse.” This, old wagoners say, was a “set-up job” between David and his spouse to gain a good price. Newcomer was the owner of the property, and as the house was of stone, is probably standing yet; but the ring of the old pike has gone from it long since.

Three miles westward from Newcomer’s was the imposing and well-remembered tavern kept by John Miller. It was of brick, a large and commodious building, situate on the north side of the road. Miller owned the property, and it may be in the possession of his descendants to this day. There were large rooms in this house, adapted to dancing purposes, and young men and maidens of the vicinity frequently tripped to the notes of the old time music in its spacious halls. The waltz was unknown, and the figures varied from the “hoe down” to the cotillion, closing always with the “Virginia Reel.” The old wagoners were invariably invited to participate in these festivities, and engaged in them with a gusto not excelled by the lads and lasses of the surrounding neighborhood. Alfred Bailes, the old pike boy of Dunbar, drove a line team from John S. Miller’s to the Nicodemus House, two miles west of Hancock, as early as the year 1836, and is probably the only survivor of the young folks who participated in the gayeties of Miller’s old tavern.