In early America, taverns or "ordinaries" offered food and shelter for travelers and their horses. The term "ordinary" first referred to a tavern meal regularly offered at a fixed price, and later came to mean the tavern itself. The Maryland Assembly required tavern operators to hold a license, post a bond for good conduct, and display set prices for food, drink, and accommodations. Because roads were poor, early taverns were generally 15 to 20 miles apart, about a day's travel. On the Great Road, now MD Route 355, a traveler going from Georgetown to Frederick could stop in Rockville and then spend the next night at Dowden's Ordinary in Clarksburg. In 1750, Michael Dowden petitioned for a tavern license, writing that his house on the road between Rockville and Frederick Towne regularly received visitors seeking food and lodging for the night, and he turned that hospitality into a business. Besides meals and lodging, taverns were places where local people socialized, argued politics, conducted business, played cards, and bet on horse races. At Dowden's, stagecoaches stopped twice a week with mail and news from communities along the route, making taverns a hub of community life. The original Dowden's Ordinary was a one-and-one-half story log structure with gabled dormers, a shingled roof, a covered porch, and two fireplaces, and Dowden later added an addition that gave it an L-shaped form.