At this time in the history of the American public house there were comparatively few inns that made an extra charge for wines. Instead decanters of liquors and of some favorite wine, like Madeira, port or sherry, frequently stood upon the tables, and from these the guests served themselves freely. There were no printed bills of fare in these days, but practi cally all the food to be served was placed on the table at one time. Guests helped them selves, some slight assistance being given by the waiter who stood at band. When Congress met in New York in 1789 the members found accommodations chiefly in the boarding-houses which abounded in the neighborhood of the Battery— on lower Broadway, in Cedar street and in Maiden Lane. It is rather amusing to note that people from other parts of the country complained about the "high prices" that were charged at the taverns and boarding houses in New York, for that was the time when the "board of the Congressmen was paid out of the common treasury, to which every citizen of the United States contributed his share." In reply to this charge of exorbitant prices it was stated that board in New York "ranges from $3 to $7 per week," and one house was cited as furnishing "from 7 to 9 dishes a day, with 4 sorts of liquor." The most important American taverns in 1795 were located in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston. The best New York taverns were opened in 1762, and formerly known as the Queen Catherine, one of the largest inns during the Revolutionary period, as it contained some 30 rooms; the City Hotel, which was erected on the site of the George Burns Coffee House, in 1793, and which was not only the meeting place of the fashion able City Assembly, but was patronized by the so-called "Three of that day; Bunker's, the Washington Tavern and the Ton tine Coffee House, on Wall street.
The National Hotel, in Washington, which was for many years the home of the most emi nent public men of the nation, was opened in 1827. In 1829 the Tremont House was opened in Boston, and for years it was noted as being the grandest hotel in the land, if not the most elegant public house in the world. Prior to that time the principal hotels in Boston had been the Eastern Stage House, Doolittle's City Tavern and the Lamb Tavern.
It was about that time, or, to be exact, in 1830, that Delmonico opened the first high-class restaurant in New York. High as his prices were, when compared to those which prevailed elsewhere, epicures and persons of fashion flocked to his support and the enterprise pros pered from the day of its inception. In 1833 the United States Hotel, in New York, was opened; in 1834 the Louisville Hotel, and, in 1835 the Galt House, also at Louisville, all of which immediately became noted as fine houses. The United States Hotel, at Boston, which has since been greatly enlarged and is still standing, was opened in 1835, while, about this time, the old Washington Hotel. at Port
land, Me., which had been established since 1823, also took the name of the United States. The Rockingham, at Portsmouth, N. H., once the home of Governor Langdon, was opened in 1834, but, like other hotels of that time it was not particularly commodious in the modern sense of the word. In fact, up to 1836, there were comparatively few hotels in the United States that were capable of accommodating as many as 200 persons. In 1836 the Astor House, in New Yorlc, was opened. Built of massive granite, and furnished with all the conveniences of that day. it was a fitting rival to Boston's Tremont House. Barnum's Hotel, at Balti more, which was opened at about this time, eclipsed the best houses which had hitherto been built in that city, while the opening of the Saint Charles Hotel, at New Orleans, in the same year, was an event which was heralded from one end of the land to the other. Situated in the centre of the "American" portion of the city, its stately portico, built in the style of a Corinthian temple, made it, next to the Capitol, at Washington, the most imposing structure in the land. It was also one of the best appointed and most commodious houses in America, hav ing accommodations for more than 700 persons. The original buildings were burned in 1851, but it was almost immediately rebuilt, and it con tinued to enjoy its position as the centre of Southern hotel life until the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1894 the structure was once more burned, but it has since been rebuilt, and still ranks as one of the best hotels in America.
The Charleston Hotel, at Charleston, had the distinction of being the only hotel in the country that had been burned to the ground on the same day on which it was opened. This was in 1839, but as it was rebuilt at once it was again opened in 1840, .afterward becoming the favorite resort of Calhoun and other great Southern statesmen. When the Planter's House, at Saint Louis, was opened in 1841, it justly prided itself upon being "the largest hotel west of the mountains." It had 215 well furnished rooms, a classic ballroom with a floor-space "8,911 square feet more than the celebrated Tremont House, in Boston," while the china and cutlery, all of which was made in England, bore the name of the house. Charles Dickens, who stopped there in 1842, spoke favorably of the hospitality of this hotel in his