Butters’ Tavern, an old time hostelry, was a privately owned inn and tavern located at the south end of Main Street, Concord, New Hampshire, at the junction of South Main, Water, and West streets. Butters' Tavern sat atop "Butters' Hill" and was said to have been a desirable business location where it was able to attract patrons, typically men traveling with railroad teamsters, or men and women traveling by steamships and other vessels along the Merrimack River, or cattlemen traveling by foot. Butters' Tavern was in operation for 65 years, 1780 to 1845, under various owners. In its later years, the inn and tavern became known as the "Concord Railroad House". It was a favorite overnight place for teamsters and was described as "a place of entertainment for man and beast". It was also said that "jolly times were witnessed within their walls when the teamsters tarried overnight".
History and location
Butters' inn and tavern was located on 131 South Main Street, Concord, New Hampshire. It was built and registered as an inn in 1780 by its original owner, Samuel Butters, a Merrimack River ferry boat captain and former American Revolutionary War Minuteman. Butters owned the tavern and inn from 1780 to 1811, followed by his son Timothy Butters who owned it from 1811 to 1814, subsequently owned by John Carr (1814–1822), Joshua Lynch (1823–1829), George Saltmarsh (1830), William Manley Carter, and Carter and Priest (1831–1842), Leonard Bell (1843), and David N. Hoit (1844–1845).
Butters' Tavern was a meeting place for local businessmen and politicians. On February 23, 1795, it was the meeting place for the men forming the charter for the first Concord toll bridge, which was granted a month early by the New Hampshire Legislature.
Manley Carter, the son of former Butters’ Tavern's owner William Manley, gave a recollection of the times saying that as many as 40 teams would stay overnight at the inn. The teamsters would typically carry their own "grub", but the tavern would welcome them to eat it in the dining room and only pay for their lodging and baiting for their teams. Should a teamster decide to partake in the full tavern menu, which meant dinner, breakfast, a cigar and a glass of rum, the total cost was 50 cents for the package.
It was said that if the walls of Butters' Tavern could speak, they would tell of the great men that stayed there, the stirring scenes of war time, and of the gallons of New England rum that was consumed at big feasts. The rum was available at any hour of the day or night, was consumed by men and women, and was reportedly replenished frequently as the rum was distilled from fine West Indian molasses at the Sampson Bullard distillery, located nearby, just north of what was known as Railroad Square at the "Iron Depot" which would now be 120 Storrs Street in Concord.
On July 17, 1817, President James Monroe visited Concord and was saluted by Capt. Richard Hebert's Concord Artillery from Butters’ Hill.
Butters' Tavern was the birthplace of Samuel Eastman, who married Anna Robertson in 1812. Anna was the daughter of Peter Robertson (a British Army deserter who changed his name from Peter Finley).
The Battle of Brimstone Hill was said to have originated at Butters' Tavern (also known then as Southwick Tavern). A company of artillery had stopped at Butters’ Tavern for a "New England refreshment" and left a cannon in the street. Soon after arrival, a company of infantry passing by captured their cannon, and a battle for its recovery ensued.
In 1913, the inn still standing but no longer operational, was described as "looking so dark and blank as if sighing for "its early companions all faded and gone"; but if the old rooms could speak..."
In 2006, Keith Dickey, an archeologist and investment banker, opened a cheese and wine shop at 70 North Main Street in Concord, called Butter's Fine Food and Wine, named after Samuel Butters' tavern.
In 2011, Kristy Stephens Ammann, the current owner of Butter's Fine Food and Wine, discussed plans to bring a modern version of the old Butters' Tavern back to Main Street, Concord.
In 2011, Bill Herlicka, owner of White Birch Brewing, created a beer to commemorate the old Butters' tavern, calling it Tavern Ale. The style is that of a smokey imperial brown ale. The malts are smoked over cherry wood in the process to produce a taste reminiscent of an ale that might have been served in an 18th and 19th century tavern.