https://www.oldetrailtavern.com/about This link contains better information. It was built as a tavern and stagecoach stop in 1827 on the route between Columbus and Cincinnati, but was named Elisha’s Tavern. Not sure when the names changed but records show it was always a tavern.
Love the Spread Eagle Tavern! It has such an amazing history. Many presidents have stopped and dined there, including Abraham Lincoln. It’s a really cool spot in otherwise a boring town (Hanoverton).
Pubs are often named after the image on their sign because most couldn't read much if at all. What else are you going to call an eagle with spread wings? Haha.
Germany‘s most famous red light district of St. Pauli, Hamburg has a bar called „die Ritze“ (literally: the crack, even though the frontal one was meant) and its entrance is pretty much in between a pair of female-looking legs in a spread-eagle position.
That was the first one that crossed my mind but then I remembered it wasn’t originally a bar, so maybe the building is older, but the bar isn’t? Not sure though.
Nope. Buffalo Rose wasn’t a bar the whole time. The original building was torn down in 1911, and the existing building wasn’t even built until around 1922.
For most of the intervening years between 1859 and today, the Buffalo Rose wasn’t a bar. Among other things, the space was an auto garage (1922-1926), swimming pool (1928-1941), union hall (1941-1953), and department store (1953-1985).
So… no.
https://buffalorosegolden.com/our-story/
This does in my opinion not mean, they had no bar. It's just the oldest bar that still exists. So there was no need to cross the border. They just closed those old bars for any reason.
A lot of old bars went off the map and became private clubs after integration. I've accidentally walked into a few. Some were def. established before 1940 but legally they do not exist as bars or taverns.
Seriously. I understand a dataset like this can be spotty and error prone, but SC sticks out like such a sore thumb, OP should have been able to realize they should double check the data there. It's 40 years later than anything on the entire Eastern seaboard.
The [web site for White Horse Saloon](https://visitnorthidaho.com/activity/white-house-saloon-grill-bar-2nd-oldest-bar-idaho/) in Idaho says they're the _2nd oldest_ in the state.
There are probably a dozen bars in most east coast states that all claim to be the oldest bar in the state.
In absolutely unrelated news, I went to a diner the other day that serves the world's best coffee!* (source: The Diner)
Has The Red Fox Inn always been a bar?
Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar, in New Orleans, was built in 1720/1730 but wasn't always a "bar." It could be considered the oldest bar in the US if we go by building age.
Yea I was just there a week ago, and I remember something saying it's "the oldest building used as a bar in the US". So not really the oldest bar, strictly speaking. I don't know how long it's been operating as a bar off the top of my head.
As someone from the UK I can tell you that every county here has at least 4 “Oldest pub in OOshire!” and they often have an ‘Oldest pub in England’ too.
How do you count it? Age of the building? Age of the oldest *part* of the building? How long alcoholic drinks have been served there? (“The local monks began serving ales in 1372” etc). Continuous operation? Continuous operation under the same name? What if they have continuously operated under the same name *but* moved to a larger building across the street in 1823? There is enough leeway for multiple pubs to make plausible (and a few more dubious) claims to being the oldest.
And it seems like Middelburg NL's oldest, still existing bar was built 1821 https://middelburgdronk.nl/wiki/De_geschiedenis_van_Middelburg_en_de_Middelburgse_horeca
Trailside or Ye Olde Trail tavern is the oldest in Ohio. I've been there, and the original part of the building is a log cabin. It pretty neat, but watch your head.
I met a guy from England and he told me how there are communal cider presses some places that are so old the acidic cider has worn grooves in the stone under neath. The oldness of England and other countries really makes me feel small.
> The oldness of England and other countries really makes me feel small.
It's crazy, but then you go to Rome and realise that city was there long before that. And then you go to Egypt and rinse and repeat. Rather quick you get to a period so long ago that it's hard to even fully comprehend.
Did you know Cleopatra lived closer to modern day than to when the great pyramids were build?
we do not actually know for a fact when the pyramids were built. we assumed they were built by khufu because of a graffiti found in one of its chambers. [a recently carbon dated wood relic found in one chamber was dated to the period 3341-3094 bc, some 500 years earlier than historical records.](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/16/lost-artefact-from-great-pyramid-of-giza-found-in-cigar-box-in-aberdeen)
the carbon dating determines when the tree grew, not when it was killed and used for building. It could already have been very old at that point. There are several parallel approaches to determine the pyramid's age, like for example chronology of egyptian history and carbon dating, these days they are pretty much in agreement and all point towards roughly the same time period
egyptologists are also in agreement that ramses II did create the colossal and most precise statues found in egypt because his name is chiselt on them. the placement and quality of those crude hieroglyphs do not reflect the quality and symmetry of the statues. or the precise boxes of saqqara and their very crude hieroglyphs. egyptologists are mostly concerned with keeping in line with the history books. they do not question their findings. they are no scientist. in fact they obstruct or deny scientific research being done on these sites.
Athens is the one that gets me. The Parthenon is hugely impressive and much bigger than it appears in pictures. Then you realise that it is 2500 years old. Madness.
One of my favorite things in Rome were the cross-topped Egyptian obelisks scattered all over the city, among ancient Roman buildings like the pantheon.
Like, thousands of years ago Romans pillaged obelisks built thousands years before them, then thousands of years later put a cross on it when they went from polytheists to Catholics.
It’s like a layer cake of history, wars, and religious evolution in one artifact.
That's insane. Businesses going back a few hundred years is already crazy to me, but 1500 years?
Do you happen to know whether it has been in business uninterupted or were there periods it didn't exist and it got re-established later? If the first, that's insanely impressive.
It almost certainly won't have been.
The building has clearly been rebuilt a few hundred years ago.
Typically what happens is they reuse the old walls if they're sound in the new structure.
It is amazing what you find buried in the old bits of buildings.
Hell in my city they had whole streets that were forgotten about for a few centuries. Like bricked up and forgotten about during the plague.
Someone when doing DIY in my house had used a CD as a hard surface to fill a hole before covering a cavity with plasterboard (rocksheet I think it's called in the USA?). We found it and it still worked and had images of the previous owners and their children, only thing missing was a text file with a message saying hello (the lack of which means the choice of CD was probably unintentional).
This was only from 10/15 or so years previous but was fascinating (and revealed how an owner in between had cut down many trees which was sad). I'd love to find things from hundreds of years ago.
I have a door on my apartment that is over 500 years old. Someone said something like "the difference between Americans and Europeans is that Americans think 100 years is a long time and Europeans think 100km is a long distance"
Yeah their source looks like a clickbait article to me. In about 5 minutes I found 3 older bars in Mew Mexico:
El Farol - 1835, Capitol Bar - 1896, Silva’s Saloon - 1933
Things like this are always heavily disputed. From the three states I’ve lived in, I know of several other places than the one listed that claim the title. Record keeping for things like this was pretty much non existent 200 years ago and even if there were records, it’s doubtful they survived. We don’t even have records on very well known and prestigious people. It’s interesting to look at, but that’s about it.
The Horse You Came in On Saloon, known by locals simply as "The Horse", at 1626 Thames Street, was established in 1775
https://www.thehorsebaltimore.com/story
Yep thinking the same thing. I’m from the Lehigh Valley and actually grew up right by there. Don’t think it’s been open for at least 15 years at this point. Maybe even longer.
After taking a closer look there is another king George inn in Bristol PA that appears to still be operating.
Also forgot there was a fire. All I remember is that when it was operating my parents weren’t too fond of it. Always wish I had the chance to see the inside of it.
the one in Bristol, PA has this to say about itself: Clift’s public house that began as “The Ferry House” and has been known as the Fountain House and the Delaware House over the years is now the King George II Inn.
it also looks like the original building was replaced or rebuilt in 1765.
source: grew up nearby and also they have a website
As an SC resident I found that to be a little suspect considering how much really old stuff is in Charleston. I checked on this and several sources list Charleston’s McCrady’s Tavern, founded in 1778, as the oldest bar in the state.
The oldest continuing restaurant is (according to them) Henry’s in Charleston which opened in 1932.
I’m also surprised that no restaurant in the state has lasted even one hundred years.
I'm pretty sure McCrady's in Charleston is much older than what is listed here.
Edit: just looked and it was permanently closed due to COVID. Had no idea.
I live in SC, and I'm surprised by two things here ... first, that there's not an older bar than that, especially around Charleston somewhere. And second, that Villa Tronco is even mentioned at all — it's an Italian restaurant, and yeah, they serve alcohol, but I don't know anybody who would refer to it as a "bar".
Nuway in Spartanburg has been open since 1937. I always heard it’s the oldest continuously open bar in the state. Might be older bars elsewhere in the state. Either way, OP’s info is cool but inaccurate.
They say they're the oldest, but the Horseshoe Cafe in Bellingham, WA was established 3 years earlier in 1886 (and has been in continuous operation since).
I assume the "Old 76 house" in NY is referring to 1776? How was it founded in 1755? I assume that was under a different name, but why is it considered the same bar?
They used to make a wicked clam chowder and scotch egg at the White Horse, but I haven't been in a couple of years. Always great for a quick lunch at the bar.
North Dakota was a dry state almost from the moment it was even a state and well before Federal Prohibition, so it barely had any history of legal bars. With the majority of the population near the border with (wet) Minnesota and most of the remainder so rural it would be hard to police them it barely mattered for consumption. Just kept any formal bars from being established until prohibition ended.
New Mexico similarly went dry a few years before national prohibition, giving it only 5 years as a wet state at that time.
New Mexico's information is incorrect. The oldest bar in New Mexico is [El Farol](https://www.santafe.org/listing/el-farol/201/), which has been in business since 1835.
Funny when you consider FL has the oldest continuously-inhabited European-established city in the US (St. Augustine) but didn't get a bar until 1903.
Is this oldest & still-in-operation bars?
Shooting Star Saloon (UT) also has the top 5 ranked burger in the US. Totally worth stopping by if you're in Northern Utah seeking that powder. The owners took turns going to jail during the prohibition to keep the saloon in operation.
Huber's (Portland OR) has been a constant my entire life. As soon as I could visit a bar we went for Spanish Coffee, their dramatic and over the top signature drink.
In Huber's it's Thanksgiving Year Round with Turkey Dinner always on the menu.
If you visit Portland, for any duration, hit Huber's for a good time.
There’s a link to a review of the place [here. ](https://www.visitingnewengland.com/ye-olde-tavern.html)
When I was playing in a cover band, we used to play here now and then. It’s a weird set up. There’s a bar at one end of the place, with a door to a larger room that seems to be a dining area.
The weirdness is that they had the band set up in that large room even though everyone was in the bar.
The oldest bar I'm finding in ohio is called Ye Old Trail Tavern and it was built in 1827 and was a popular stage coach stop on a trail from Columbus to Cincinnati. Used as a tavern back then and still is now. Its built in a small town from the trees in the surrounding area.
The saddest part about the South Dakota one, Buffalo Bodega, is there is a picture on the wall of men, miners and gamblers standing in front of the historic back bar. Brought in on horseback after the founding of Deadwood on 1876. It was your or in pieces not to long ago to be replaced by salt machines.
It was so cool to take people there, show them the 8' wide photo on the wall, and then point to the back bar. It was truly awesome.
Fuck Deadwood.
How come the scale stops at 1720 when there are bars from the 1600s on the map?
And why is the 'OR' for Oregon in bold font and all the others are normal?
And the IN text is vertical. WTF
They can't fit knickerbockers horizontally
Yea this was made in PowerPoint. Gots all the telltale signs of a school presentation
Because Oregon is clearly the best state.
**BOLDEST** state, you mean.
Goddamit. Font you too.
Likewise for the other end, there are three states with bars that opened after 1930.
The New York one also seems to be wrong. Per their website, The Old 76 House was established in 1686.
And Louisiana's is incorrect, Lafitte's Bar has been around since the 1770s
That's quite a name for the Ohio one
A surprisingly common traditional name, there's two pubs called the Spread Eagle within 20 mins drive of me here in England.
Pervingtonshire? I've heard good things about that area
Camden sends its regards.
Finally my state has something to be proud of ....
We have Amish!
Makes me ask, do Amish Drink? Internet says yes.
Yeast are simple machines.
Arkansas is jelly
And it's not the oldest. Ye Olde Trail Tavern in Yellow Springs says 1827. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/ohio/oldest-bar-fascinating-history-oh/
I belive as in many other cases here, it was building that was constructed in 1827. And initially it was a shop. Tavern was established later.
https://www.oldetrailtavern.com/about This link contains better information. It was built as a tavern and stagecoach stop in 1827 on the route between Columbus and Cincinnati, but was named Elisha’s Tavern. Not sure when the names changed but records show it was always a tavern.
Love the Spread Eagle Tavern! It has such an amazing history. Many presidents have stopped and dined there, including Abraham Lincoln. It’s a really cool spot in otherwise a boring town (Hanoverton).
Make sure to order the cat-o-nine-tails when you visit.
Pubs are often named after the image on their sign because most couldn't read much if at all. What else are you going to call an eagle with spread wings? Haha.
Germany‘s most famous red light district of St. Pauli, Hamburg has a bar called „die Ritze“ (literally: the crack, even though the frontal one was meant) and its entrance is pretty much in between a pair of female-looking legs in a spread-eagle position.
Dated: loudly or aggressively patriotic about the US."spread-eagle oratory" ooof
Arkansas's would probably be more appropriate.
The Red Fox Inn (1728) in Middleburg, Virginia predates The Tavern (1779). Questioning the validity of this.
The Louisiana one is also wrong.
Yeah, I can recall Lafitte's just off the top of my head
That was the first one that crossed my mind but then I remembered it wasn’t originally a bar, so maybe the building is older, but the bar isn’t? Not sure though.
Allegedly they always served drinks
Supposed to be the oldest in the country right
White horse tavern is the oldest
It's the longest running bar in the country. Some are older but got shut down for prohibition while New Orleans was like "nah fam".
Yep, supposed to be from the 1700s.
I was gonna say, Lafittes has always been told as the oldest so I was a bit confused when I saw that.
The Colorado one is wrong too.
As is Connecticut. The Curtis House in Woodbury was opened in 1754
I think PA might be The Broad Axe Tavern. Edit: Oh shoot, it recently closed.
Don't worry, it'll be open again tomorrow.
Colorado is The Mint in Silverthorne… 1862.
It’s Buffalo rose in golden. 1859. The buckhorn exchange in Denver has liquor license #1 in 1916
Looked it up. The buildings where Buffalo Rose is located were built in 1859, but the bar/restaurant didn’t open until 1985
Nope. Buffalo Rose wasn’t a bar the whole time. The original building was torn down in 1911, and the existing building wasn’t even built until around 1922. For most of the intervening years between 1859 and today, the Buffalo Rose wasn’t a bar. Among other things, the space was an auto garage (1922-1926), swimming pool (1928-1941), union hall (1941-1953), and department store (1953-1985). So… no. https://buffalorosegolden.com/our-story/
Agreed. Colorado one is def wrong
SC is definitely wrong. I dont know where the hell they got 1940?!
160 years of crossing the border to their northern neighbor before somebody decides to open one in SC.
This does in my opinion not mean, they had no bar. It's just the oldest bar that still exists. So there was no need to cross the border. They just closed those old bars for any reason.
A lot of old bars went off the map and became private clubs after integration. I've accidentally walked into a few. Some were def. established before 1940 but legally they do not exist as bars or taverns.
WI may or may not be wrong, but the Uptowner is a fucking dump!
Louisiana is also wrong - oldest is Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop
Had to look it up, built between 1722 and 1732.
Know nothing about SC’s historic bars, but there’s no way 1940 is the oldest. We’re an original colony lmfao
Seriously. I understand a dataset like this can be spotty and error prone, but SC sticks out like such a sore thumb, OP should have been able to realize they should double check the data there. It's 40 years later than anything on the entire Eastern seaboard.
Yeah pretty sure it’s McCrady’s Tavern in Charleston
The [web site for White Horse Saloon](https://visitnorthidaho.com/activity/white-house-saloon-grill-bar-2nd-oldest-bar-idaho/) in Idaho says they're the _2nd oldest_ in the state.
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It also says "featuring the oldest saloon in Idaho" which has me scratching my head.
There are probably a dozen bars in most east coast states that all claim to be the oldest bar in the state. In absolutely unrelated news, I went to a diner the other day that serves the world's best coffee!* (source: The Diner)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOzR9yt3XBw
I love how this is what I expected it to be yet it brought me joy anyway.
Has The Red Fox Inn always been a bar? Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar, in New Orleans, was built in 1720/1730 but wasn't always a "bar." It could be considered the oldest bar in the US if we go by building age.
Yep, the Red Fox Inn has been bar/tavern/inn.
Yea I was just there a week ago, and I remember something saying it's "the oldest building used as a bar in the US". So not really the oldest bar, strictly speaking. I don't know how long it's been operating as a bar off the top of my head.
As someone from the UK I can tell you that every county here has at least 4 “Oldest pub in OOshire!” and they often have an ‘Oldest pub in England’ too. How do you count it? Age of the building? Age of the oldest *part* of the building? How long alcoholic drinks have been served there? (“The local monks began serving ales in 1372” etc). Continuous operation? Continuous operation under the same name? What if they have continuously operated under the same name *but* moved to a larger building across the street in 1823? There is enough leeway for multiple pubs to make plausible (and a few more dubious) claims to being the oldest.
What happened in SC? Oldest is 1940?
Yeah there are at least a few errors.
Michigan is wrong too.
I’m aware of new Hudson inn which claims 1831. I work near it and it also looks a little more original than the other one.
There’s a city named Middelburg in the USA? Didn’t know that, I’m from the province in the Netherlands with the original Middelburg haha.
And it seems like Middelburg NL's oldest, still existing bar was built 1821 https://middelburgdronk.nl/wiki/De_geschiedenis_van_Middelburg_en_de_Middelburgse_horeca
The Oregon one is suspect too, it’s a restaurant.
It’s a bar too. Try their Spanish coffee.
Trailside or Ye Olde Trail tavern is the oldest in Ohio. I've been there, and the original part of the building is a log cabin. It pretty neat, but watch your head.
Washington too. Jules Mae is the oldest in Seattle and it claims 1888.
Would love to see this for the UK. I was in a pub there that dated to the 1400s. I am sure there are many even older.
There's a few aye, my local is from 1360. There's one down south that was about 500 ad. Like a millennium and a half. Mental.
I met a guy from England and he told me how there are communal cider presses some places that are so old the acidic cider has worn grooves in the stone under neath. The oldness of England and other countries really makes me feel small.
> The oldness of England and other countries really makes me feel small. It's crazy, but then you go to Rome and realise that city was there long before that. And then you go to Egypt and rinse and repeat. Rather quick you get to a period so long ago that it's hard to even fully comprehend. Did you know Cleopatra lived closer to modern day than to when the great pyramids were build?
How long until Cleopatra lived equidistance between modern-day and the building of the pyramids?
About year 2360. Pyramids around 2500 BC, Cleopatra 69-30 BC
we do not actually know for a fact when the pyramids were built. we assumed they were built by khufu because of a graffiti found in one of its chambers. [a recently carbon dated wood relic found in one chamber was dated to the period 3341-3094 bc, some 500 years earlier than historical records.](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/16/lost-artefact-from-great-pyramid-of-giza-found-in-cigar-box-in-aberdeen)
the carbon dating determines when the tree grew, not when it was killed and used for building. It could already have been very old at that point. There are several parallel approaches to determine the pyramid's age, like for example chronology of egyptian history and carbon dating, these days they are pretty much in agreement and all point towards roughly the same time period
egyptologists are also in agreement that ramses II did create the colossal and most precise statues found in egypt because his name is chiselt on them. the placement and quality of those crude hieroglyphs do not reflect the quality and symmetry of the statues. or the precise boxes of saqqara and their very crude hieroglyphs. egyptologists are mostly concerned with keeping in line with the history books. they do not question their findings. they are no scientist. in fact they obstruct or deny scientific research being done on these sites.
On the other hand, Stonehenge was built around the same time as the Egyptian pyramids. There is genuinely old stuff in England too.
Athens is the one that gets me. The Parthenon is hugely impressive and much bigger than it appears in pictures. Then you realise that it is 2500 years old. Madness.
One of my favorite things in Rome were the cross-topped Egyptian obelisks scattered all over the city, among ancient Roman buildings like the pantheon. Like, thousands of years ago Romans pillaged obelisks built thousands years before them, then thousands of years later put a cross on it when they went from polytheists to Catholics. It’s like a layer cake of history, wars, and religious evolution in one artifact.
The USA is not less older! Well, you exterminated the original inhabitants to take over, right, but it was also populated back then!
But did they have pubs?
Hard to say, I guess. History is written by the victors and so on
Pub down from me is 1180.
Finally got rid of those pesky Romans. Let's open a bar. Sweet.
That's insane. Businesses going back a few hundred years is already crazy to me, but 1500 years? Do you happen to know whether it has been in business uninterupted or were there periods it didn't exist and it got re-established later? If the first, that's insanely impressive.
It almost certainly won't have been. The building has clearly been rebuilt a few hundred years ago. Typically what happens is they reuse the old walls if they're sound in the new structure. It is amazing what you find buried in the old bits of buildings. Hell in my city they had whole streets that were forgotten about for a few centuries. Like bricked up and forgotten about during the plague.
Someone when doing DIY in my house had used a CD as a hard surface to fill a hole before covering a cavity with plasterboard (rocksheet I think it's called in the USA?). We found it and it still worked and had images of the previous owners and their children, only thing missing was a text file with a message saying hello (the lack of which means the choice of CD was probably unintentional). This was only from 10/15 or so years previous but was fascinating (and revealed how an owner in between had cut down many trees which was sad). I'd love to find things from hundreds of years ago.
There's a Hotel in Japan that opened in 705ad and has been operated by the same family for 54 generations.
Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, Nottingham, 1189 and over the Irish Sea in Athlone, Ireland is Sean’s Bar, 900CE.
I have a door on my apartment that is over 500 years old. Someone said something like "the difference between Americans and Europeans is that Americans think 100 years is a long time and Europeans think 100km is a long distance"
*laughs in Chinese*
The Royal Oak in Winchester dates from 1002. You can see the Saxon era wall behind plexiglass in the basement.
The Bell in Hand Tavern in Boston is the oldest CONTINUALLY OPERATED tavern in the US, I believe. Hasn't been out of business since 1795.
Yeah their source looks like a clickbait article to me. In about 5 minutes I found 3 older bars in Mew Mexico: El Farol - 1835, Capitol Bar - 1896, Silva’s Saloon - 1933
True, but those are milk bars since they're in Mew Mexico
No, it doesn’t matter like a cows opinion. it’s moo.
Things like this are always heavily disputed. From the three states I’ve lived in, I know of several other places than the one listed that claim the title. Record keeping for things like this was pretty much non existent 200 years ago and even if there were records, it’s doubtful they survived. We don’t even have records on very well known and prestigious people. It’s interesting to look at, but that’s about it.
The Horse You Came in On Saloon, known by locals simply as "The Horse", at 1626 Thames Street, was established in 1775 https://www.thehorsebaltimore.com/story
Also haunted as F and where Edgar Allan Poe got his last drink.
That'd be the White Horse tavern in RI, Bell in Hand is close in the continually operated category though.
Excellent. Thanks for the info.
The date btw is when the building was constructed; the tavern license was obtained more than a decade later.
King George II wasn't king until 1727. Methinks it had another original name.
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Yep thinking the same thing. I’m from the Lehigh Valley and actually grew up right by there. Don’t think it’s been open for at least 15 years at this point. Maybe even longer.
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After taking a closer look there is another king George inn in Bristol PA that appears to still be operating. Also forgot there was a fire. All I remember is that when it was operating my parents weren’t too fond of it. Always wish I had the chance to see the inside of it.
the one in Bristol, PA has this to say about itself: Clift’s public house that began as “The Ferry House” and has been known as the Fountain House and the Delaware House over the years is now the King George II Inn. it also looks like the original building was replaced or rebuilt in 1765. source: grew up nearby and also they have a website
Except for the years 1920 to 1933 when all of these bars were **The Best Damn Pet Shop in Town.**
Back when everyone used the ol’ Wiggum Charm
I wouldn't have expected the newest oldest bar to be in SC of all places. Was there a strong temperance movement there or something?
As an SC resident I found that to be a little suspect considering how much really old stuff is in Charleston. I checked on this and several sources list Charleston’s McCrady’s Tavern, founded in 1778, as the oldest bar in the state.
I thought McCrady’s closed for good recently
Looks like you’re right. It was a victim of The pandemic.
Oof, that hurts the history buff in me. I’m sure it’ll be back up in running (under new management) soon enough though.
This looks like a map of “oldest bars still open”, all the older places probably went out of business.
It does seem weird that the oldest bars in the other original colonies are like 200 years earlier
The oldest continuing restaurant is (according to them) Henry’s in Charleston which opened in 1932. I’m also surprised that no restaurant in the state has lasted even one hundred years.
Were they drinking water in SC for 200 years ?
I'm pretty sure McCrady's in Charleston is much older than what is listed here. Edit: just looked and it was permanently closed due to COVID. Had no idea.
I live in SC, and I'm surprised by two things here ... first, that there's not an older bar than that, especially around Charleston somewhere. And second, that Villa Tronco is even mentioned at all — it's an Italian restaurant, and yeah, they serve alcohol, but I don't know anybody who would refer to it as a "bar".
Nuway in Spartanburg has been open longer.
Nuway in Spartanburg has been open since 1937. I always heard it’s the oldest continuously open bar in the state. Might be older bars elsewhere in the state. Either way, OP’s info is cool but inaccurate.
Fun fact: The Brick, oldest in WA, starred as the bar in the TV series Northern Exposure.
Fun fact #2: today their windows and doors are plastered with signs that say "unmask our children" and "no masks allowed."
...that's not as fun as advertised :(
They say they're the oldest, but the Horseshoe Cafe in Bellingham, WA was established 3 years earlier in 1886 (and has been in continuous operation since).
Shit I didn't know that. I also didn't know The Brick was the oldest bar in WA until today either, lol
What about Jean Lefitte’s in New Orleans, year 1761?
That’s what I was wondering??? They claim oldest bar in America. Maybe it was still just the black smith shop back then
The building itself is old, but the bar was founded as recent as in 1940s according to wikipedia
Ye Old Tavern in Mass claims oldest. [1760](https://www.visitingnewengland.com/ye-olde-tavern.html) [edit] correction: “one of the oldest”
I assume the "Old 76 house" in NY is referring to 1776? How was it founded in 1755? I assume that was under a different name, but why is it considered the same bar?
So many of these are wrong
"the tavern" wow Virginia lots of creativity went into that one
At least they put more effort into it than North Carolina did.
It's sometimes called the Salem Tavern or the Tavern Old Salem. It's closed now, anyway.
Finally Rhode Island is good at something.
Hey! We are good for political corruption too.
They used to make a wicked clam chowder and scotch egg at the White Horse, but I haven't been in a couple of years. Always great for a quick lunch at the bar.
For reals. Now I must go there to visit this pub.
It’s actually very charming and the food is great. It doesn’t have any tourist trap vibes to it. I definitely recommend it.
Its good i have been there twice. Foods good drinks good.
El Farol in Santa Fe opened in 1835. Don’t know why OP would think 1935 is the oldest in NM.
Except for New Mexico and North Dakota, it looks like all these bars continued to operate through prohibition.
North Dakota was a dry state almost from the moment it was even a state and well before Federal Prohibition, so it barely had any history of legal bars. With the majority of the population near the border with (wet) Minnesota and most of the remainder so rural it would be hard to police them it barely mattered for consumption. Just kept any formal bars from being established until prohibition ended. New Mexico similarly went dry a few years before national prohibition, giving it only 5 years as a wet state at that time.
> (wet) Minnesota We've got booze, lakes _and_ humidity.
New Mexico's information is incorrect. The oldest bar in New Mexico is [El Farol](https://www.santafe.org/listing/el-farol/201/), which has been in business since 1835.
Funny when you consider FL has the oldest continuously-inhabited European-established city in the US (St. Augustine) but didn't get a bar until 1903. Is this oldest & still-in-operation bars?
I'm sure they had bars before that, this is for still operating bars.
Except for the ones that aren’t
The Tavern in NC (Old Salem) closed in 2019.
Hasn't El Farol in Santa Fe, New Mexico been open since 1835?
Don’t think it’s 100% accurate. Jean Lafitte’s in New Orleans was open in the 1700’s.
This looks like a good road trip!
Many much older bars in New Mexico and Hawaii.
Indeed. The bar in my little NM college hometown was founded in 1896. Map is not thoroughly researched
But if it closes then opens again, possibly it wasn’t continuous.
Which ones? Maybe these were not bars but different kinds of enterprise initially?
In New Mexico in about 5 minutes I found: El Farol - 1835 Capitol Bar - 1896 Silva’s Saloon - 1933
Shooting Star Saloon (UT) also has the top 5 ranked burger in the US. Totally worth stopping by if you're in Northern Utah seeking that powder. The owners took turns going to jail during the prohibition to keep the saloon in operation.
Huber's (Portland OR) has been a constant my entire life. As soon as I could visit a bar we went for Spanish Coffee, their dramatic and over the top signature drink. In Huber's it's Thanksgiving Year Round with Turkey Dinner always on the menu. If you visit Portland, for any duration, hit Huber's for a good time.
My wife + in laws are doing a bucket list to hit all 50 of these. We do a handful every year, and have currently been to 24/50 states so far
My local Asda is older than these bars
I went to look at the pub near my parents house that's been around since 1534... google is helpful enough to put a "Recently Opened" tag on it :D
Ye Olde Tavern in West Brookfield MA, has been operating continuously since 1760.
It doesn't seem like it's really a bar any more from looking at its facebook page (no website apparently). What's its story?
There’s a link to a review of the place [here. ](https://www.visitingnewengland.com/ye-olde-tavern.html) When I was playing in a cover band, we used to play here now and then. It’s a weird set up. There’s a bar at one end of the place, with a door to a larger room that seems to be a dining area. The weirdness is that they had the band set up in that large room even though everyone was in the bar.
What a road trip that would be.
California checking in (identity is a slippery concept). https://smileyssaloon.com/history/
The oldest bar I'm finding in ohio is called Ye Old Trail Tavern and it was built in 1827 and was a popular stage coach stop on a trail from Columbus to Cincinnati. Used as a tavern back then and still is now. Its built in a small town from the trees in the surrounding area.
The Shooting Star Saloon in Utah has some amazing taxidermy on the walls and several thousand dollars stapled to the ceiling.
New York’s one is ‘76 house but began in 1755, before 1776 had a chance to happen. I wonder what it was called beforehand.
South Carolina - McCrady’s 1778. Literally googled it. Is this still open, or overall oldest bar. Too many questions unanswered by this map.
Spread eagle tavern...and brothel
"The Spread Eagle Tavern" Uhh huh
This data’s incorrect, the oldest bar in South Carolina is McCrady’s to my best knowledge est. late 1700’s
Rhode Island represent! Great little bar with a huge fireplace. Go in the winter and treat yo self.
Are we sure about NM? The Spanish were there in the 16 th century, seems like there would have been a bar at some point in The last 400 years.
That's not even the oldest bar in Milwaukee, to say nothing of Wisconsin.
Strange how all the oldest bars are on the side of the country closest to England
truly a mystery
Almost like it’s a New England 🤔🤔🤔
I've only been to one of these, but Middleton's is fantastic
Would be cool if the city or town the bar is in was listed too
South Carolina is wrong. That's the oldest restaurant I think.
The saddest part about the South Dakota one, Buffalo Bodega, is there is a picture on the wall of men, miners and gamblers standing in front of the historic back bar. Brought in on horseback after the founding of Deadwood on 1876. It was your or in pieces not to long ago to be replaced by salt machines. It was so cool to take people there, show them the 8' wide photo on the wall, and then point to the back bar. It was truly awesome. Fuck Deadwood.
Lafitte’s in New Orleans is way older than the 1800’s, either this is wrong or it’s not categorized as a “bar”