Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/399

 STAGE COACHES. 319 nell and Enoch Remington, and was continued as a public house, with a store and a public bar. On the death of Mr. Kinnicutt in 1837, the post-office was removed to the tavern, and Mr. Remington, the proprietor, was the second post- master of the town, relinquishing the trust, on his removal to Providence, to George R. Kinnicutt, son of Josiah, the first who held the office. Another public house was kept by Josiah Kinnicutt, in a house that stood at the bend in the main road, north of the Bowen tavern. This tavern also had a bar for the accommo- dation of guests, but Mr. Kinnicutt's account book is not in evidence as to its customers. After the Revolution the sign on the tavern post bore the picture of an American Eagle, with outstretched wings. The southwest front room was the barroom and the post office. See biography of Josiah Kinnicutt. In 1775 a license was given Solomon Townsend, Jr., to keep a public house at his residence at Happy Hollow. Of its history we have no record. As the stage lines were the principal feeders of the tav- erns, where passengers were fed, refreshed and lodged, they are naturally connected in our story. The history of the earliest modes of public travel in this part of New England is full of interest. As Newport, Provi- dence and Boston were the three largest towns in New England, a stage route was established early to connect them. Newport and Boston were nearly or quite two days apart by stage travel, with Providence as an intermediate station. A passenger leaving Newport or Boston, on Monday morning, reached his destination at the other city on Tuesday after- noon or evening, at an expense of three dollars for stage fare, plus the cost of meals and lodgings at intervening taverns at Dedham, Wrentham, Attleboro, Providence, Warren or Bris- tol. The stage coach, drawn by four or six horses according to the condition of the highways and the amount of travel, was capable of carrying twelve adult persons on the inside, and from six to twenty on the outside, as the circumstances