This beer mug found at a construction site at 50 Bower in New York City was used at a pre-civil war bar.Archaeologists are excavating the construction site of a 22-story hotel on The Bowery in New York City, which has been occupied since the 1740s, in order to preserve any history that may be hiding in the soil.
And recently they made a big discovery.
According to a report from DNAInfo New York, Chrysalis Archaeology discovered hundreds of beer mugs, liquor bottles, medicine bottles and plates dating back to the Civil War and pieces of a bar that opened before the Revolutionary War.
The mugs, bottles and plates—including a wine bottle from Bürgerspital Wurzburg in Germany—were likely used at the Atlantic Garden, a “tourist destination in its day — it was known for its German food and beer, and as a place for music and parties,” Alyssa Loorya, president of Chrysalis, told DNAInfo New York.
The Atlantic Garden was opened in 1858 and closed by 1916 and until last year the building still stood after being gutted and added on to at various points throughout the years.
But the Garden wasn’t the first occupant of the site. It was built where the Bull’s Head Tavern once stood between the 1740s and 1825. Opened by a prominent butcher, the tavern had a rich history, once serving as a recruiting center for the King’s Army when New York was under British control and it gave respite to then-General George Washington and his troops during a stop in 1783.
You can read the full story of the site’s interesting history at DNAInfo.
