OUR STORY
Rye Tavern History
“The Cornish Tavern”
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Rye tavern History
Unlike the modern car or bus, stagecoaches and their teams required regular rest stops along their routes of travel. There were two stops on Old Sandwich Road in Plymouth – one in Ellisville and the other at The Cornish’s Tavern. The Cornish Tavern was built in 1792 by Josiah Cornish, who along with his wife “Nabby” (Abigail Clark Cornish) maintained the tavern as an inn and popular loyal meeting place for many years.
“I stopped one night at a tavern….about forty miles from Boston, and as I was cold and wet, I sat down at a good fire in the bar-room to dry my great-coat and saddle bags, till a fire could be made up in my chamber. There presently come in, one after another, half a dozen, or half a score of substantial yeomen of the neighborhood, who, sitting down to the fire after lighting their pipes, began a lively conversation on politics. As I believed I was unknown to all of them, I sat in total silence to hear them.”
John Adams, 1794
Even after the Old Colony Railroad reached Plymouth in 1845, there was still a need for a resting place for horse-drawn coaches making connections to outlying towns. The tavern’s popularity is attested to by the following excerpts in an 1889 anecdote published in “The New England Magazine”.
“Was that the Cornish’s where you had your parties?”
“Yes; Cornish’s Tavern, eight miles or so on the old stage road that goes from Boston through Plymouth down to the Cape.”
“Up at Cornish’s we just took that tavern and all that was in it, and rummaged and helped ourselves and turned things upside down. And we had a great supper, and we danced four-handed reels, and some the double – shuffle, and we played plays”
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RICH HISTORY & BEAUTIFUL ATMOSPHERE
Taverns in the Plymouth area remained into the 19th century when they were gradually replaced by more modern hotels and restaurants…..But in the outlying area along the old roads, our traditional 18th century taverns still exists. The Cornish Tavern still stands today on Old Sandwich Road looking much the same as it did two centuries ago. It is currently run as the Rye Tavern, keeping the old tavern tradition alive.
