About a mile further up, at One Hundred and Fifth Street, a lane on the east side of the avenue led down to the celebrated Red House, located on a plot of many acres. The main building was the old McGown house of colonial days, roomy and well adapted to a road house. On the place was a well kept half-mile trotting course, which offered extraordinary inducements to horse owners and consequently made it a popular resort. One of its earliest proprietors was Lewis Rogers, who is described by Abram C. Dayton as a dapper little man, always dressed in the tip of fashion and as neat and trim in the appointments of his house as in his personal attire.
One mile beyond the Red House was Bradshaw’s, on the corner of Third Avenue and One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, not far from Harlem Bridge, and for most the turning point of their drive. A long rest was taken here by many who made it the only stopping place on the road, consequently, on a favorable day for driving it was crowded. Widow Bradshaw was noted for her chicken fricassee, universally acknowledged to be a marvel of excellence.
On the Bloomingdale Road, a more quiet drive and more used by those who took with them their families or ladies, was Burnham’s Mansion House, at first, as early as 1825, at Seventieth Street, and at a later period the fine Vanderheuval mansion and grounds at Seventy-eighth Street. This was fitly styled the family house on the drive and on fine summer afternoons the spacious grounds were filled with ladies and children who sauntered about at their leisure and convenience, having no fear of annoyance.
BURNHAM’S MANSION HOUSE
Across the river on Long Island the Jamaica Turnpike was the great drive for horsemen. On this road were many notable public houses, frequented by horsemen. At Jamaica, nearly opposite the Union Course, was John R. Snedeker’s tavern, a large three-story white frame house with a piaza along its whole front. For more than a quarter of a century this was the accepted rendezvous of the trotting-horse fraternity. The first authentic record made by a trotting horse on a track in the presence of judges was made in May, 1826, on the new track of the New York Trotting Club at Jamaica and a New York newspaper of May 16 states that “the owner and friends of the winning horse gave a splendid dinner and champagne at Snedecor’s tavern.” Snedeker’s dinners became celebrated far and wide and horsemen from every section came to feast on his game, fish and asparagus which no one else could surpass or equal.
Visit of Lafayette
The year 1824 is notable for the visit to this country of General Lafayette, who, accompanied by his son, George Washington Lafayette, arrived at New York in the ship Cadmus on the 16th of August. Besides the committee of the corporation, members of the Society of the Cincinnati, Revolutionary officers and soldiers, a deputation from West Point and distinguished guests and official personages, more than six thousand persons went down the bay to meet him, and his welcome to our shores was such as no man had ever received before. The day was delightful, and the surface of the bay was dotted with every conceivable kind of craft. The ships and vessels were liberally decorated with all kinds of flags and signals. As the grand flotilla with the guest of the nation approached the city, continual salutes rolled out their signs of welcome above the shouts of the people, while on shore hundreds of bells were ringing. The military, three thousand in number, formed in line, and on landing, Lafayette was received with a salute of twenty-one guns. After a review of the troops commanded by General James Benedict, he was conducted to the City Hall in a barouche drawn by four horses, escorted by a troop of horse and followed by a long line of citizen soldiery. Here a public reception was held till five o’clock, when the General was escorted to his quarters at the City Hotel, where a dinner was given in his honor by the civil and military authorities. In the evening the town was illuminated and fireworks and transparencies were displayed in honor of the occasion.
At the City Hotel Lafayette was waited on by the clergy of the city, by the officers of the militia, by social societies, by the French Society, by delegations from Baltimore, from Philadelphia, from New England and from up the Hudson; and when on Friday morning the General prepared to leave the city, the military paraded at seven o’clock and repaired to the City Hotel, whence at eight o’clock Lafayette, the committee appointed to accompany him to Boston and the military escort, commanded by General Prosper M. Wetmore, moved up Broadway to Bond Street and thence up Third Avenue.
Grand Banquet at Washington Hall