Perleys Reminiscences, v. 1-2 | Page 9

whirled along the narrow street beneath the bluff, swaying heavily with
the irregularities of the road. The steamboats lay at India Point, just
below the town, where immense quantities of wood were piled up, for
each boat consumed between thirty and forty cords on a trip through
Long Island Sound.
The stages used to reach India Point about half-past eleven o'clock, and
the boat would start for New York precisely at twelve. There were no

state-rooms, the passengers occupying berths, and at the dinner and
supper the captain of the boat occupied the head of the table, having
seated near him any distinguished passengers. Occasionally there was
an opposition line with sharp rivalries, and at one time a then rising
New Yorker, Cornelius Vanderbilt, carried passengers from New York
to Boston for one dollar.
On arriving at New York, the passengers had to look our for their
luggage, and either engage hacks or hand-cartmen, who for twenty-
five cents would carry a trunk to any part of the city. The city then, be
it remembered, did not reach up Manhattan Island above the vicinity of
Broome or Spring Streets, although there were beyond that the villages
of Greenwich, Bloomingdale, Yorkville, and Harlem. The City Hotel,
on Broadway, just above Trinity Churchyard, Bunker's Hotel, lower
down, and the Washington Hotel, which occupied the site of the
Stewart building above the Park, were the principal public houses. The
Boston stages stopped at Hall's North American Hotel, at the corner of
Bayard Street and the Bowery, and there were many boarding-houses
where transient guests were accommodated.
From New York, travelers southward went by steamboat to
Elizabethport, where they were transferred to stages, and crossed New
Jersey to Bordentown on the Delaware River, where a steamer was in
waiting to transport them to Philadelphia. This was a long and fatiguing
day's journey, and a majority of travelers remained over a day in
Philadelphia, where the hotels were excellent and there were many
objects of attraction.
Leaving Philadelphia in a steamboat, passengers went down the
Delaware to New Castle, whence they crossed in stages to Frenchtown
on the Elk River, and there re-embarked on steamers, which took them
down and around to Baltimore, another long and fatiguing day's trip. At
each change from boat to stage, or from stage to boat, passengers had to
see that their luggage was transferred, and it was generally necessary to
give a quarter to the porter. Baggage checks and the checking of
baggage were then unknown.
Between Baltimore and Washington there were opposition lines of

stages and a good turnpike road. There had been, when I first went over
the road, some daring robberies by "road agents," and the mail coaches
were protected by a guard, who occupied a perch on the roof over the
boot and was armed with a blunderbuss. This weapon had a
funnel-shaped barrel, a flint lock, took about half a pint of buckshot for
a charge, and was capable of destroying a whole band of robbers at
once. In due time the flat, wide dome of the Capitol, which resembled
an inverted wash-bowl, was visible, and the stage was soon floundering
through the broad expanse of mud or of dust known as Pennsylvania
Avenue, taking passengers to the doors of the hotels or
boarding-houses which they had previously indicated.
When Congress first met at Washington there was but one hotel there
and one in Georgetown. Others were, however, soon erected, and
fifty-eight years ago there were half a dozen. The favorite
establishment was the Indian Queen Hotel, which occupied the site of
the present Metropolitan Hotel and was designated by a large swinging
sign upon which figured Pocahontas, painted in glaring colors. The
landlord, Jesse Brown, who used to come to the curbstone to "welcome
the coming guests," was a native of Havre-de-Grace and had served his
apprenticeship to tavern-keeping in Hagerstown and in Alexandria. A
glance at the travelers as they alighted and were ushered by him into
the house would enable him mentally to assign each one to a room, the
advantages of which he would describe ere sending its destined
occupant there under the pilotage of a colored servant. When the next
meal was ready the newly arrived guest was met at the door of the
dining-room by Mr. Brown, wearing a large white apron, who escorted
him to a seat and then went to the head of the table, where he carved
and helped the principal dish. The excellencies of this--fish or flesh or
fowl--he would announce as he would invite those seated at the table to
send up their plates for what he knew to be their favorite portions; and
he would also invite attention to the dishes on other parts of the table,
which were carved and helped by the