Merchants and Drovers Tavern

About

The Merchants and Drovers Tavern is located at 1632 Saint Georges Avenue in the city of Rahway in Union County, New Jersey, United States. On November 21, 1978, the historic tavern was added to the National Register of Historic Places, for its significance in architecture, commerce, and transportation.

The exact construction dates of the building have been the source of some historical debate. Sample analysis of the building's wooden frame conducted by Columbia University's Lamont Dougherty Earth Sciences Observatory suggested that there were two distinct periods of construction : 1795–1796 and 1818–1819. The claim that the building did not exist until 1795 at the earliest is supported by the fact that the first innkeeper, John Anderson, did not receive a tavern license until 1798, after the initial period of construction. It only began operation as a hotel around 1825, after the recent addition turned the two and a half story building into a three and a half story one.