People and communities
Gabreil Daveis Tavern: a disputed last license and a mistaken hospital
Documented history · Sources compared
An original licensing addendum challenges a later account of the tavern’s closure; a naming error also gave the building a mistaken hospital history.
Trade and township business shared a room
The Historic Trust dates the tavern to 1756 and connects its customers with the Great Irish Road and Timber Creek’s lumber traffic. Elections and town meetings used it from 1757 to 1770. The Trust says the tavern ceased operating in 1769 and subsequently became a residence. The original licensing addendum, examined below, gives a different account of Sarah Daveis’s last renewal.
A federal listing needed correction
The 1973 nomination used erroneous HABS research to identify it as the Hillman Hospital House, a different building. Historian William Leap’s 1977 amendment corrected the National Register name. The mistaken institutional label should not become evidence that medical work occurred here. New Jersey Historic Trust site record.
The license addendum changes Sarah’s story
The 1977 addendum says Sarah received licenses in both 1768 and 1769 and tried to sustain the tavern; it calls 1769 the last license issued. That is more specific than the later Trust account’s statement that she declined renewal that year. The addendum also lists several intervening keepers, including Thomas Briant and Thomas Bishop, so the business was not continuously operated by one proprietor. It associates declining traffic with the 1768 Chews Bridge and a new road half a mile away. That explanation is the historian’s reconstruction from licensing and transport history, rather than a surviving statement by Sarah herself. 1977 significance addendum, page 2.
Sources and research limits
The Trust explicitly documents the naming correction. The 1977 addendum was subsequently inspected; the underlying license applications were not. The record’s Gabreil spelling is retained; later occupants’ military roles are not expanded without their records.