The house of the widow Post appears to have been a favorite place for members of assembly, where according to Mr. Isaac Robin, secretary of council, they discussed matters of state over their wine, and committees met on business of various kinds. The popularity of her house seems to have continued for several years. In November, 1721, we have record of the examination of Vincent Pelow before the council at the house of the widow Post, in relation to the small pox raging in Boston, and on November 9, 1726, the assembly, “taking in Consideration the Conveniency and Accommodation, which the Members of this House have every Sessions, as well at the Meeting of Committees as otherwise, at the House of the Widow Post, and that the Trouble and Expense, which is occasioned to her on such Occasions far exceeds her Gains. It is the Opinion of this House that she ought to be exempted from paying any Excise, from this Time until the first Day of November next,” and it was ordered that the commissioners for letting to farm the excise take notice thereof accordingly.
Obadiah Hunt was a tavern-keeper whose house seems to have been used both by the provincial and city officers as a place for conference on consultation. He was a member of the common council for several years, which may have been one cause of his house being used by that body. It was situated on Dock Street between Whitehall and Broad Street, next door to the custom house. He owned the house and appears to have been a man of some property, but of little education. He was a popular landlord. In January, 1718, the corporation paid Obadiah Hunt £4 6s 9d, for expenses at his house by the corporation on the anniversary of the coronation, October 26th last, and on the anniversary of Gunpowder Treason Day, November 5th. The dinner, wine, beer, cider and other expenses at the house of Obadiah Hunt on the occasion of the entertainment given to Governor Burnet, on September 20, 1720, shortly after his arrival in the province, cost the corporation £21 8s 6d. Meetings were held at his house for the transaction of business of various kinds connected with the city, such as auditing accounts, leasing the ferry, leasing the docks and slips, etc., and on the arrival of a new governor, in April, 1728, his house was again the scene of an entertainment in his honor, which cost the city £15 6s 6d.
IV
The Black Horse
The Black Horse Tavern
In the early part of the eighteenth century, there stood on the southern corner of Smith and Garden Streets, the present William Street and Exchange Place, the Black Horse Tavern, kept by John DeHoneur, who seems to have been its landlord for many years. John or Johannes DeHoneur was recommended for the office of captain of militia in June, 1709. Whether he was a tavern-keeper at this time, or how soon after he became one, we do not know, but on October 18, 1727, the assembly directed that the Committee on Grievances meet every Tuesday and Friday, during the sessions, at five o’clock in the afternoon, at the house of John DeHoneur, and that the first meeting be on Friday next. The next year the Committee on Grievances requested permission to meet at other place and time than at the place and time appointed for their meeting, and they were allowed by the assembly to meet at such other times and places as they should judge necessary, but they, nevertheless, must meet every Thursday evening at the house of John DeHoneur. It continued to be the meeting place of committees, and ten years after, in 1737, it was the meeting place, by appointment of the assembly, of the Committee of Privileges and Elections. In the record it is sometimes named as the house of John DeHoneur, and at other times as the Black Horse Tavern. In the contest between Cornelius Van Horne and Adolph Phillipse, they were ordered to exchange lists at the house of John DeHoneur.
