Photo by Aaron Morrison/Lancaster News photographer
Johannes Tromp, host and inkeeper of Kilburnie the Inn at Craig Farm, dedicated the dining room in the bed and breakfast to George Washington and the historical significance of the first president’s visit here in 1791. The Washington portrait, above, was painted by Jim Shore. Shore also painted the reconstructed scene at Barr’s Tavern that hangs in the entry hallway of Kilburnie.
First president visited Lancaster in 1791
From the Feb. 22, 2009 edition of The Lancaster News
By Gregory A. Summers
On Friday, May 27, 1791, American Revolution hero George Washington stopped by Nathan Barr’s Tavern to eat breakfast during his tour of the Carolina backcountry. It was part of a personal campaign the first president of the United States took each spring to become acquainted with the people he was elected to represent.
After spending the night at James Ingram’s home near Hanging Rock, Washington records in his diary that he left there about 4 a.m.
A notoriously early riser, Washington preferred to leave very early and ride for about three hours before stopping at an inn or tavern for breakfast, said Louise Pettus, who wrote “President Washington’s Southern Tour” in 2001.
Washington rode on horseback unless it was raining. Then he might ride inside a carraige that was described as a “white chariot.”
Lousie Pettus said while Washington was wined and dined in South Carolina’s major towns – Georgetown, Charleston, Columbia and Camden – what he found here was somewhat different.
Founded by settlers from Lancaster, Penn., Lancaster was known as Barnettsville at the time.
“What we know as the city of Lancaster would’ve probably had 50 residents at the most,” said local historian Lindsay Pettus. “There’s no way to tell how planned out things were. But given the times and circumstances with Washington being a war hero and the first president, there would have been crowds along the old Camden to Salisbury Road (now U.S. 521) to greet him.”
The Camden to Salisbury Road would later connect with the Great Wagon Road to Philadelphia.
“Word of mouth, word of horse or word of buggy would’ve carried news down the road,” Lindsay Pettus said.
Photo by Aaron Morrison/Lancaster News photographer
The Historic Landmark sign for Barr’s Tavern is just north of the city limits on U.S. 521 in the Twin Pines community.
How Washington paid for his breakfast of mush and milk at Barr’s Tavern that morning has become part of local folklore and history.
According to archives at the University of South Carolina’s Institute for Southern Studies, Washington paid for his breakfast with half of a Spanish piece of eight that he cut into two parts with his sword. A piece of eight is a Spanish silver dollar that was accepted legal tender in the United States until 1857. Cutting the coin in half to pay for goods, labor or service was a custom of the day.
Before leaving, Washinton placed the half coin in the empty mush bowl and handed it to Nathan Barr’s young daughter.
Photo courtesy of Lindsay Pettus
The piece of eight (Spanish silver dollar) that George Washington used to pay for his breakfast at Barr’s Tavern is kept in the vault at Wofford College.
In 1865, troops commanded by Union Gen. W.T. Sherman burned Ingram’s home to the ground since it was the first county courthouse.
A historical landmark sign marks the location of Barr’s Tavern (the county’s second courthouse), just north of the city limits. Although both landmarks are gone, the coin Washington used to pay for his meal is still around. Barr’s daughter gave it to Andrew Mayer, the first mayor of Lancaster, who served from 1831 to 1832.
Lindsay Pettus said Mayer passed the coin along to the late Dr. James H. Carlisle. Carlisle was Wofford College president from 1875 to 1902. The coin was placed in the Wofford College vault for safekeeping many years ago.
“I’ve actually held it in my hand,” Lindsay Pettus said.
The bowl and pitcher Washington used that morning at Nathan Barr’s Tavern now belong to a private collector in Lousiana, Lindsay Pettus said.
“I tried to get the two pieces back here, but I wasn’t very successful,” he said.
“I could tell early on that wasn’t going to happen; that attempt went down in history.”
According to “Lancaster County: A Pictorial History” by Louise Pettus and Martha Bishop, Washington stayed in Lancaster County one more night before moving on.
The president preferred public accomodations to private homes, but his options were limited, so he made his next stop at the home of Maj. Robert Crawford, along Waxhaw Creek.
“Like Barr, Robert Crawford had been a Revolutionay War officer,” Pettus and Bishop wrote. “Numerous citizens of the populous Waxhaws settlement were present to cheer their distinguished visitor. A bountiful picnic dinner was served to all.”
While the locations of the Ingram home and Nathan Barr’s Tavern are known, Lindsay Pettus said the same can’t be said of Robert Crawford’s homeplace.
Pettus compares it to the home of James Crawford, who was Robert Crawford’s brother. A future president – Andrew Jackson – was born under James Crawford’s roof in 1767. In both instances, Lindsay Pettus said what happened there is known, but the “where part is missing.”
“I’ve always wanted to know where the spot of Robert Crawford’s home was, but I’ve never had any luck in tracking it down,” he said.
The Scots-Irish settlers weren’t the only ones who came out to meet the nation's first commander-in-chief. So did a delegation of Catawba Nation chiefs.
Pettus and Bishop wrote that Washington doumented the meeting in his diary, with a tinge of annoyance.
“At Mr. Crawford’s, I was met by some of the chiefs of the Catawba Nation, who seemed under apprehension that some attempts were being made, or would be made, to deprive them of a part of the 40,000 acres which was secured to them by Treaty, and which was bounded by this Road,” Washington wrote.
Another stop?
Although Washington makes no mention of visiting the Buford Battleground site on Rocky River Road (S.C.522) in his diary, it is quite possible that he and his small party did.
Known as the consummate politician of his day, the first president made sure to visit every battleground and the graves of as many fallen American Revolution soldiers as possible.
Washington certainly had the opportunity to visit the landmark site, where Col. Abraham Buford’s 11th Virginia Regiment and a detachment of Washington’s cavalry were massacred by British troops on May 29, 1780.
Archives at USC’s Institute for Southern Studies record that Washington “tells us he traveled 18 miles to Barr’s where he had his breakfast.”
“That would have given him time to have come by way of the Rocky River road in order to visit the Buford’s battleground, then turn west to come to Barr’s.
“He (Washington) makes no mention in his diary of the Buford battle site, but tradition in that area asserts that he did make a stop. He could have easily have failed to record it,” the archives note.
