Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 April 1885 — Callahan’s Tavern. [ARTICLE]

Callahan’s Tavern.

Cakahan’s mountain tavern, Oh the road to the Virginia Springs, writes Ben: Perley Poore in the Bouton Du.dget, enjoyed a great reputation before the railroad days, and parties would often go from Washington to enjoy a few days there, deer-hunting and trout-fishing. It was located in a double gap of the Alleghanies, where four mountain roads met. There was a small farm, hemmed in by the mountains, with a stream of clear water running through it, and a spring of cool, delicious water. When* I used first to go there the house was a low, picturesque cottage, but on my last visit, soon after the war, I found that it had been disfigured by a pompous Virginia veranda, with large white wooden columns. On this veranda were the domestic productions of the region—maple iugar, buckskin gloves, and rattlesnakes! —each in boxes duly labeled. The “snaiks” were visible through a pane of glass inserted in the top of their box, and their rattling was plainly heard when they were disturbed. They were plentiful thereabout, and the antidote given to those who were bitten by them was a large quantity of raw whisky, “one poison neutralizing the other, ” as a temperance man in our party observed. But the fare at Callahan’s was all that an epicure could desire, even if his appetite had not been sharpened by a ride in a stage coach. Never did I taste such juicy venison steaks, or such crisp fried chicken, with fresh omelettes and a variety of the fancy warm bread and cakes for which the Southern matrons were famous. The coffee was equally excellent, the milk was cold and pure, and after this delicious repast there were those of the party who enjoyed a compound of old home-made peach brandy, with fresh honey from a neighboring hive, there not being any constabulary in those parts. Troops from both armies camped there during the war, and the landlord informed me that Gen. Averill “camped on” him seven times. He did the Yankee General justice, however, and said that, while the stock was taken, the hay and grain were consumed, and the fences were burned, no wanton damage was inflicted, nor was the house disturbed. “The Confeds,” added the old man, with a sligh, “treated us a heap worser, though wonst they paid us in their money, but that wa’n’t of no ’count.” Just after crossing the summit of the Alleghanain chain we saw a large number of horses’ bones whitening in the woods, while many of the trees appeared to have been lopped off about fifteen or twenty feet from the ground. Our driver, on being questioned, said it was the battle-field of Dry Creek. “The Yanks was a-coming, and the Confeds fought ’em bar fur tew days, both sides a-firing at each other till the Yanks’ powder was gone; then they went a-tarin.” He said, further, that each side lost about a hundred men; but he was evidently ignorant of the facts, although he had been over the road twice a day all summer. Even the name of the rebel victor was unknown to him. Such is fame.