The first tavern in Philadelphia opened in 1682, only a few months after William Penn had founded the city. Called the Blue Anchor Inn, it was soon followed by 6 more taverns within a year's time. By the time of the Revolution, the city, and especially the waterfront, was lined with hundreds of these establishments. Regardless of their clientele, these taverns offered one thing in common: an alternative to the city’s unsanitary drinking water.
The middle and upper classes frequented such venues as "coffee houses" and the City Tavern at Second and Walnut St. The taverns closer to the river, with it's piers and warehouses, catered to sailors, stevedores and a working class clientele. Some were neighborhood bars while others were the equivalent to today's dive bar, often doubling as houses of ill repute.
The “Man Full of Trouble,” as its name suggests, probably catered to a fairly rowdy crowd in the 18th and early 19th century. Built in 1759 by Michael Sisk, it sat on the banks of Dock Creek, which has long since been filled in. Throughout its history, ownership of the tavern changed hands many times. In 1796, it was bought by a woman, Martha Smallwood, who owned it for over 30 years. After the 1830s it went by many names including “A Man Full of Mischief”, "Cove Cornice House", and “Naylor’s Hotel.”
The tavern had beds for rent in the second floor attic. Drinking, dining and smoking were done on the ground floor. The cellar, which contained the kitchen and was used for storage, was also where the maids and the hired help slept.
In the 1960s, the deteriorated structure, then being used as a wholesale chicken market, was purchased by a preservationist and restored to its 1759 appearance. Since 1994, it has not been open to the public. Although an attractive two-and-a-half story building in the Georgian style, it has been extensively sanitized since its “glory days”. Once packed in with other brick and wood-framed houses, it now sits isolated and alone, surrounded by green space and Society Hill Towers. It is the only surviving pre-revolutionary tavern in Philadelphia.
1835 sketch, Naylor's Hotel 1958 1961
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