You Didn’t Need to Sell Whiskey to Make Money

(The architectural beauty of the former Kemp Tavern owned by Susannah Kemp and her son John. The home was built in 1868 by Mr. Scott of Richmond. The ‘essence of a time that once was’ is captured in this Perpetua Quigley watercolour sketch and Haiku. The former tavern is now the home of Cabotto’s Restaurant on Hazeldean Road in Stittsville, Ontario.) CLICK here..

also read- Some Hazeldean Secrets.. Remember Chequers?

Most people have an idea that, rightly or wrongly, in the old days of the stopping places along the country roads, the keepers of these places made a lot more out of whiskey than they made from supplying meals and lodging to the wayfarers.

But in the opinion of Mr. Wm. Scott, of Old Chelsea, the hotelkeepers could have made a living without the sale of whiskey at all. He points out that in the early days when railroads were scarce everybody had to travel by the roads and everybody had to have horses to travel with. These horses had to be stabled.

The stables were a great source of profit to the old hotelkeepers. The stables seldom had an empty stall. It will be remembered that in the early days the hotelkeepers used to advertise their “stable accommodation.” They advertised “good yard and stabling.”

read-British Hotel Pakenham –Mrs. McFarlane

The hotel tables also paid well then. The standard price for a meal was 25 cents and at that price a meal used to pay. All kinds of food, especially meat and farm produce, was cheap. Mr. Scott maintains that while the liquor the hotelkeepers sold also paid them well, they could have done without it and have made a living.

Innisville Hotel- stands stands private hotel When an ex-railroader was charged with trespassing in Mud Lake, the court was held in a room of the Innisville Hotel. The conviction was registered and later it was quashed. Why? It was soon discovered it was illegal to use a”pub” as a court house. Here come da’ Judge! ***Read Back Where I came From — Innisville***

The early hotel keepers sold liquor, partly for the protit, out largely because there was a demand for it. There were few people who did not “take something” fifty, sixty or seventy years ago, and consequently the stopping places had a demand for it.

There were two distilleries in operation in Carleton Place for several years. One of these was owned by Mr. Caleb Bellows and was situated where the Canada Lumber Company’s large mill once stood, near the north end of the dam. Read- Down by The Mississippi River with The Jessops

Twenty Two Dollars a Week and Mississippi Hotel Clippings

Clippings from the Lord Elgin Hotel — Babysitting and The Iron Curtain

Clippings of the Old Albion Hotel

Not Hogwarth’s —- It’s Hoggards of Ottawa! Besserer Street History

The Brunswick Hotel — The “dollar-a-day” Huckell Hotel — (Murphy-Gamble Limited)

From Carleton Place to “the Laff” — The Life and Times of Peter Prosser Salter

British Hotel Pakenham –Mrs. McFarlane

Hotels of Early Carleton Place

Did You Know we Once Had a Grand Hotel? The Grand Central Hotel

A Piece of Almonte History for Sale –A. H. Whitten- Almonte Hotel

The Almonte Hotel — 1990s More history

The Gazette
Montreal, Quebec, Canada27 Aug 1857, Thu • Page 4

William McFarlane passed away in 1838 and Mrs. Isabella McFarlane, being a strong woman, took over the simple log hotel that same year. It had opened in 1832, yet Mrs. McFarlane had no idea her old house would be used almost similiar to an army fort when Chief McNabb came into the village attempting a hostile take over. The volunteers ran to Mrs. MacFarlane’s place and grabbed what they could, whether that be:frying pans. kettles or other cleaning and cooking utensils they could take into battle. Word was the battle lasted all night and they did not have to serve Chief McNab.

After it burnt doqn she later bought some land from Andrew Dickson and built a large building on Graham Street at the weatern approach to the bridge and Isabella Mcfarlane’s pubilc house was known as sylish and became known as THE place to stop. It was also considered respectable and many a meeting was held at her hotel. She provided stabling for 6 horses and had spare beds and a sitting room seperate from the bar room.

I imagine keeping a 24/7 inn in those days was hard and in 1859 she placed an advert selling her inn and in 1859 James Cowan took it over. It was probabaly a good thing as the railway coming through Pakenham brought a large amount of rough and tough railway workers and the hotels were full of these railroaderds who spent their time drinking and arguing.

with files from: Whiskey and Wickedness- Larry Cotton Pakenham 1823-1860( Verna Ross McGiffen)