Public House

In 1819 Jacob Garrett purchased this lot, built a house, and in 1821 received a license to keep a public house of entertainment. Such a public house, or pub, was licensed to sell alcoholic beverages and might also offer meeting rooms, light meals, and games such as darts, cards, or billiards; before the courthouse was finished, this one even served as a courtroom. Excavations on the lot uncovered a pit with many artifacts from the building’s use, including at least 77 whole or reconstructed ceramic vessels such as serving dishes and tea wares, along with fragments of tumblers, forks and knives, animal bones, egg shells, two pair of dice, a lead gaming piece, and mouth harps used as musical instruments. These finds indicate that food was served and that people gathered there for games and music, yet only three liquor bottles and a few fragments of clay smoking pipes were found, raising the possibility that the establishment functioned more as a restaurant or tea room than a drinking place, or that wine and liquor bottles were recycled.

Arkansas · United States