American
Tavern Signs
Signs of
the (Old) Times
by Mildred Jailer-Chamberlain
Photos courtesy of the Connecticut Historical Society except where
noted.
This sign combines the innkeeper’s name along
with an image of this handsome gelding.
Courtesy Old Sturbridge Village, photo by Henry E. Peach.
What with the current outcry criticizing stand-out signs
for cluttering and otherwise destroying the beauty of Main Street, it
comes as a surprise that the same type of signs was once mandated. Back
in 1647 the Colony of Massachusetts decreed that every establishment “shall
have some inoffensive sign, obvious, for the direction of strangers posted
within three months of its licensing.”
The smart businessman obeyed the law. He also understood the profit-making
effects of advertising. As a result, an untold number of signs tempted
patronage in villages, towns and cities throughout Massachusetts and,
chances are, in the 12 other colonies as well. Over the years many were
destroyed or painted over but a sufficient number of the originals remains
dating from the 17th into the first years of the 20th century to merit
high regard as examples of American folk art by collectors and museums.
Even a late 19th century sign, devoid of decoration and featuring only
two words cash and store, can command big dollars. And, in fact, estimated
to sell for $400 to $600, the sign was recently sold by Skinner to a Boston
dealer for $15,000 plus premium.
To attract patrons passing in both directions, signs were printed on both
sides. Typically, a circa 1870s E. Noyes tavern sign, now at the Shelburne
Museum in Vermont, features a militia man on horseback with the words
“General Stark at Bennington” on one side of the sign. A sunburst
dominates the other side. Sloane Stephens, Managing Curator at Shelburne,
believes the signs are “incredible records of what made up the visual
landscape of the 17th into the 19th centuries.” At Mystic Seaport
in Connecticut, a circa 1840-1850s sign advertises the arrival and departure
of a sloop to Providence, Rhode Island and Charleston, South Carolina.
“It was probably taken on the vessel,” guesses Mystic Curator
William Peterson. “When it was in Charleston, the black lettering
on one side of the sign advertised Providence and, in Providence, the
sign was reversed to advertise Charleston.”
At the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford, reputed to hold the
largest collection of New England and New York 18th and 19th c. tavern,
inn and hotel signs, Richard Malley, Assistant Director of Museums Collections,
reviews the history of sign wordage and illustration. The words on earlier
signs tended to be accompanied by an eye-catching design — a figure,
animal, or heraldic imagery. As the 19th century progressed, lettering
increased and imagery decreased.
Sign, “Entertainment for Man & Hors.” Unknown,
c. 1768, oil colors on wood panel.
An 1838 sign at Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, for example,
features a bucolic scene of two deer drinking from a stream and, on the
other side, a calvary soldier with a drawn sabre astride a prancing horse.
The message, “Stafford House 1838” and “Hayes”, the
proprietor’s name, are prominent. The earlier signs, Malley declares,
“address what may be called ‘visual literacy’ over wording.
It allowed even those who might not be literate to understand the message.”
Early sign panels were usually fashioned of local wood. In New England,
for example, it might have been white pine. The panels were square, rectangular
or oval suspended within a post rail framework. By the late 18th and early
19th centuries, there was a “transition into a more rectangular shape
with molded edges similar to what we consider a modern sign,” Malley
explains.
Sign colors could be muted, lively or a combination of the two. Lettering
and the illustration might be gold on a black background. The circa 1836
sign for the Hannah Hotel in Bethlehem, Connecticut, now in the Connecticut
Historical Society collection, for example, features the name of the hotel
and a rising sun in gold with only subtle red lines as shading against
the black background of the rectangular sign that is highlighted by an
inner gold line. “Stafford House” and “Hayes” on the
1838 rectangular sign in the Old Sturbridge Village collection, described
above, are presented in sedate gold lettering at the top and bottom of
a wide black border. Brightly colored illustrations lend reality to what
they are depicting.
Outer decorative elements, usually of wood or wrought iron, were also
integral to the signs. Simple effects were apt to decorate early signs.
A 1790-1820 sign for Gordon’s Inn, for example, is bordered with
unadorned wood resembling an understated, narrow modern-day picture frame.
By the 19th century, Malley explains, the hardware was more decorative,
frequently of elaborately twisted iron on the outside with other decorative
iron effects seeming to spring out from the top edge of the sign. Signs
were also given the form of the product being advertised such as an 1840s
sign in the shape of a man’s pocket watch. The hour numerals are
arranged realistically around the edge of the “watch” that also
includes “L. Fremeau,” the jeweler’s name. The sign was
given to the City of Burlington, Vermont when the business was sold by
the family. It is now in the Shelburne Museum collection.
Sign, “J. Porter.” Unknown, c. 1818, oil colors
on wood panel.
Three artisans were needed to complete a sign: a joiner, a blacksmith
to form the hanging iron hardware, and a painter. “They were usually
people who had some training and ‘native talent’.” In fact,
“the range of artistic talent involved in the making of signs varied
all over the block. Some signs were not too sophisticated in composition.
Other signs have a painterly quality to them,” Malley comments. And,
indeed, William Sydney Mount (1807-1868) began as a sign painter-apprentice
with his brother who was a New York City sign and ornamental painter.
After a stint as a sign painter, Mount settled in New York City and on
Long Island where he became known for his landscape paintings.
How does the collector or interested casual viewer separate the originals
from the many reproductions? Stephen Fletcher, Executive Vice President
and Director of American Furniture and Decorative Arts at Skinner, Inc.,
reminds that the signs were displayed out-of-doors and were altered by
the weather. But, Fletcher notes, “They often became quite extraordinary
after exposure when they were softened and faded. A brilliant salmon red
might be faded to a soft pink color.” It is always worth noting,
says Richard Malley in Connecticut, that “oftentimes one side of
a sign would be considerably more weathered than the other depending upon
which direction the sign was facing.”
“Really good 18th and 19th century tavern and inn signs have been
appreciated and collected since late in the 19th century,” Fletcher
states. Although interest declined over the years, “significantly
more interest in signs developed again in the last decade or so. Who knows
why things go in and out of style?” Fletcher wonders. As a result
early signs were very affordable through the period of low appeal. Now,
however, “good signs can be extremely costly; commanding $50,000
to $100,000.” For example, Fletcher cites, there is an 18th century
tavern sign featuring King George on a horse. (“The representation
of King George looks like Milton Berle in drag. It is an amazing caricature
of the King in an unfavorable way.”) The blue coat, worn by the King,
was overpainted in red and some of the blue is now exposed. The sign,
discovered in a selectmen’s office closet in a Massachusetts town,
was given to the state historical society. Fletcher appraised it recently
for $125,000.
Sign “Crofut’s Inn.” unidentified, c.
1892, paint on wood, Oxford, CT.
Early signs that are of “good quality, are beautiful and have the
original surface will continue to be desirable,” Fletcher expects.
“An oversize trade sign (anywhere from a couple of feet long to eight
or 10 feet) may not sell because a limited number of people can accommodate
it. But the smaller signs are practical.”
For anyone who enjoys a first-hand look at these colorful, sometimes whimsical
examples of folk art, the Connecticut Historical Society has approximately
half of their collection on view in their Hartford headquarters’
auditorium (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday). The Society has
also organized, “Lions and Eagles and Bulls: The Art of Early American
Inn Signs,” a traveling exhibition featuring approximately 28 examples.
(The exhibition includes a circa 1826 sign for the A. Phelps Inn in Colebrook,
New Hampshire painted by William Rice who began as an itinerant sign painter
and later, from his shop in Hartford, became a leading sign painter in
that part of Connecticut and southern Massachusetts. Rice also did ornamental
painting on carriages, coaches, fire buckets, doors and furniture.)
“Lions and Eagles and Bulls” is on display at the Society until
the end of April 2001. From June 30 to September 16, 2001 it will be at
the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire; in the fall of 2001 at
the Museums at Stony Brook, Long Island, New York and in April of 2002
at the Museum of Our National Heritage in Lexington, Massachusetts. (A
lavishly illustrated 291 page catalogue featuring 65 signs and essays
by academic and museum experts and conservators is $29.50 plus postage,
soft cover, from the Connecticut Historical Society, 1 Elizabeth Street,
Hartford, Connecticut 06105 or by phone: 860-236-5621.)
Sign, “Alderman/Bissell.” Unknown, c. 1760,
oil colors on wood panel.
Some 25 to 30 early signs are housed at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge,
Massachusetts with a selection of examples decorating the walls of the
Visitors Center Theater. In early 2002, when an adaptation of an early
19th century tavern is opened to the public, a sign will hang outside
the building just as it did in years gone by.
Approximately 140 signs — flat painted tavern and inn signs, figural
signs representing the product or service they advertise, tobacconist
figures — are grouped in the Folk Art Gallery at the Shelburne Museum
in Shelburne, Vermont. For the most part, the signs in the village at
Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut are reproductions. The originals
which can be seen by appointment include a 19th century sign advertising
a photographer, shipping signs and a sampling of retail signs. Mystic
Curator William Peterson regards the signs as “important parts of
our collections that help to document the activities of the 19th century.”
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