Three Pigeons
Encyclopedia
The Three Pigeons was a prominent and famous meeting place in Bergen Township, New Jersey
during the revolutionary
period, and was used historically as a landmark as well as a popular place for hosting special occasions.
, and currently Bergen Turnpike. The two-story building was located near the southern fringe of the settlement of Maisland
near the intersection of what is now Tonnelle Avenue and Hackensack Plank Road
, within modern North Bergen, New Jersey
., Today, the instersection is called "Six Corners", where a laundromat and cafe share the same name, in the residential and commercial neighborhood called New Durham
.
By the time the inn was erected, the name Three Pigeons had been used repeatedly in plays as the backdrop for scenes, for instance in She Stoops to Conquer
(1773), Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor
(1602) and Ben Jonson
's The Alchemist
(1610). Later literary scenes involving a "Three Pigeons" appear in Creatures of Impulse
(1870) and Charles Dickens
' Our Mutual Friend
(1864–65), as well as in actual inns, such as the English Shakespearian actor John Lowin
's "The Three Pigeons" at Brentford. It has been said that the name "Three Pigeons" in any of its variants may have more literary associations than any other tavern name. Many other inns and taverns in England still use this name today.
era where the community in New Durham was located, as can be seen in the map below printed 1776. Along with Snake Hill and Priors' Mills, Three Pigeons made up one of three prominent land points in Hudson County; with the Three Pigeons namely being a site well referenced in describing proximity at the time as well. It has been said that General Washington
had also spent time at the Three Pigeons, likely before and during the years of the revolution.
On March 14, 1779, Colonel Van Buskirk
, a British loyalist in the New Jersey Volunteers
received intelligence that a party of Carolina Troops, along with a Captain and Lieutenant were at the Three Pigeons. Van Buskirk dispatched the Fourth Battalion and a lieutenant to approach the building, but the rebels were able to escape into the Bergen Woods
. They were chased for 12 miles, and in the end after shots were exchanged, 2 rebels were captured as prisoners. Months later, during the Battle of Paulus Hook
, General Lee along with Captain Handy and the rest of his men moved towards the ferry at the Hudson
to cross with prisoners, only to find no boats, leaving Lee to return the way he came from fear of capture if remaining like sitting ducks. After diverting back, Lee picked up 50 of his lost Virginians at the Three Pigeons and assigned them as flankers. Then at Fort Lee Ferry Road, Lee's troops, as decided by Lord Stirling, were reinforced by Colonel Henry Ball along with 200 additional troops, and soon after were attacked unsuccessfully by Van Buskirk and his Tories from within the Bergen woods. By August 19, Lee led his troops and 159 prisoners safely to New Bridge
. One Captain Meals was captured at the Three Pigeons, and on him were found the positions and orders of Lee's command relating to the attack and march at Paulus Hook. Finally, on October 20, Lee met for the last time with John Champe, a double agent chosen by George Washington
and Lee himself in an attempt to capture the American traitor Benedict Arnold
, sent Champe up the road up towards the Three Pigeons, and worked to give him a start of about an hour and a quarter before he would release the information of Champe's whereabouts to the dragoons. Just above the Three Pigeons, Champe and the dragoons simultaneously spotted each other; troopers then began pursuit of Champe, but were unsuccessful as Champe had jumped into the Hudson and was picked up by a British boat, claiming to seek British protection in New York City.
Also during the revolution, a British adherent who had tried to visit his family was captured at the Three Pigeons and was subsequently killed.
politician endorsed General Winfield Scott
's bid for presidency, a fellow whig, and gave a speech in support at the Three Pigeons in 1852. It had been used repeatedly during the remainder of the 19th century as a landmark for describing official government and military positions, as well as in deed purchases. Finally in 1893, the Three Pigeons was destroyed.
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
during the revolutionary
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
period, and was used historically as a landmark as well as a popular place for hosting special occasions.
Location and Name
The Three Pigeons stood at the bottom of the west side of the Hudson Palisades, east of a main road that was later to be the Hackensack TurnpikeHackensack Plank Road
The Hackensack Plank Road was a major artery which connected the cities of Hoboken and Hackensack, New Jersey Like its cousin routes, the Newark Plank Road and Paterson Plank Road, it travelled over Bergen Hill and across the Hackensack Meadows from the Hudson River waterfront to the city for...
, and currently Bergen Turnpike. The two-story building was located near the southern fringe of the settlement of Maisland
Maisland
Maisland, or Mais Land was an area in Hudson County, New Jersey.-Location:The region of Maisland was located on the western slope of the Hudson Palisades....
near the intersection of what is now Tonnelle Avenue and Hackensack Plank Road
Hackensack Plank Road
The Hackensack Plank Road was a major artery which connected the cities of Hoboken and Hackensack, New Jersey Like its cousin routes, the Newark Plank Road and Paterson Plank Road, it travelled over Bergen Hill and across the Hackensack Meadows from the Hudson River waterfront to the city for...
, within modern North Bergen, New Jersey
North Bergen, New Jersey
North Bergen is a township in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township had a total population of 60,773. Originally founded in 1843, the town was much diminished in territory by a series of secessions. Situated on the Hudson Palisades, it is one...
., Today, the instersection is called "Six Corners", where a laundromat and cafe share the same name, in the residential and commercial neighborhood called New Durham
New Durham, North Bergen
New Durham is an area of North Bergen, New Jersey near the foot of Union Turnpike and Bergen Turnpike, and south of the Tonnelle Avenue Station of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail...
.
By the time the inn was erected, the name Three Pigeons had been used repeatedly in plays as the backdrop for scenes, for instance in She Stoops to Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer is a comedy by the Irish author Oliver Goldsmith, son of an Anglo-Irish vicar, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a great favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in Britain and the United States. It is one of the few plays from the 18th...
(1773), Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life...
(1602) and Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
's The Alchemist
The Alchemist (play)
The Alchemist is a comedy by English playwright Ben Jonson. First performed in 1610 by the King's Men, it is generally considered Jonson's best and most characteristic comedy; Samuel Taylor Coleridge claimed that it had one of the three most perfect plots in literature...
(1610). Later literary scenes involving a "Three Pigeons" appear in Creatures of Impulse
Creatures of Impulse
Creatures of Impulse is a stage play by English dramatist W. S. Gilbert, with music by composer-conductor Alberto Randegger, which Gilbert adapted from his own short story...
(1870) and Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
' Our Mutual Friend
Our Mutual Friend
Our Mutual Friend is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining psychological insight with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, "money, money, money, and what money can make of life" but is also about human...
(1864–65), as well as in actual inns, such as the English Shakespearian actor John Lowin
John Lowin
John Lowin was an English actor born in the St Giles-without-Cripplegate, London, the son of a tanner. Like Robert Armin, he was apprenticed to a goldsmith. While he is not recorded as a free citizen of this company, he did perform as a goldsmith, Leofstane, in a 1611 city pageant written by...
's "The Three Pigeons" at Brentford. It has been said that the name "Three Pigeons" in any of its variants may have more literary associations than any other tavern name. Many other inns and taverns in England still use this name today.
History
The earliest account is of a tavern keeper, William Earle who was born in 1690, and flourished in the early 18th century. Prior to the American Revolution, the Three Pigeons Tavern was well known in the area during the colonialColonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history from the start of European settlement and especially the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain until they declared independence in 1776. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major...
era where the community in New Durham was located, as can be seen in the map below printed 1776. Along with Snake Hill and Priors' Mills, Three Pigeons made up one of three prominent land points in Hudson County; with the Three Pigeons namely being a site well referenced in describing proximity at the time as well. It has been said that General Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
had also spent time at the Three Pigeons, likely before and during the years of the revolution.
American Revolution
Jacob Van Buskirk
Jacob Van Buskirk was a merchant, judge and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Shelburne County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1805 to 1818....
, a British loyalist in the New Jersey Volunteers
New Jersey Volunteers (Skinner's Greens)
The New Jersey Volunteers was a British provincial regiment raised for service during the American Revolutionary War.-Regimental history:...
received intelligence that a party of Carolina Troops, along with a Captain and Lieutenant were at the Three Pigeons. Van Buskirk dispatched the Fourth Battalion and a lieutenant to approach the building, but the rebels were able to escape into the Bergen Woods
North Hudson, New Jersey
North Hudson is the collective name of the municipalities of Weehawken , Union City , West New York , Guttenberg and North Bergen in Hudson County, New Jersey...
. They were chased for 12 miles, and in the end after shots were exchanged, 2 rebels were captured as prisoners. Months later, during the Battle of Paulus Hook
Battle of Paulus Hook
The Battle of Paulus Hook was fought on August 19, 1779 between Continental Army and British forces in the American Revolutionary War. The Patriots were led by Major Light Horse Harry Lee, and launched a nighttime raid on the British-controlled fort in what is today downtown Jersey City. They...
, General Lee along with Captain Handy and the rest of his men moved towards the ferry at the Hudson
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
to cross with prisoners, only to find no boats, leaving Lee to return the way he came from fear of capture if remaining like sitting ducks. After diverting back, Lee picked up 50 of his lost Virginians at the Three Pigeons and assigned them as flankers. Then at Fort Lee Ferry Road, Lee's troops, as decided by Lord Stirling, were reinforced by Colonel Henry Ball along with 200 additional troops, and soon after were attacked unsuccessfully by Van Buskirk and his Tories from within the Bergen woods. By August 19, Lee led his troops and 159 prisoners safely to New Bridge
New Bridge Landing
New Bridge was a prosperous mill hamlet, centered upon a bridge strategically placed at the narrows of the Hackensack River. In the American Revolution New Bridge Landing was the site of a pivotal bridge crossing the Hackensack River, where General George Washington led his troops in retreat from...
. One Captain Meals was captured at the Three Pigeons, and on him were found the positions and orders of Lee's command relating to the attack and march at Paulus Hook. Finally, on October 20, Lee met for the last time with John Champe, a double agent chosen by George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
and Lee himself in an attempt to capture the American traitor Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold V was a general during the American Revolutionary War. He began the war in the Continental Army but later defected to the British Army. While a general on the American side, he obtained command of the fort at West Point, New York, and plotted to surrender it to the British forces...
, sent Champe up the road up towards the Three Pigeons, and worked to give him a start of about an hour and a quarter before he would release the information of Champe's whereabouts to the dragoons. Just above the Three Pigeons, Champe and the dragoons simultaneously spotted each other; troopers then began pursuit of Champe, but were unsuccessful as Champe had jumped into the Hudson and was picked up by a British boat, claiming to seek British protection in New York City.
Also during the revolution, a British adherent who had tried to visit his family was captured at the Three Pigeons and was subsequently killed.
Afterwards
For local Bergen and regional elections, the Three Pigeons was used as a voting house for the mayoral elections from 1804 through 1806; it would open there during these years and close at Peter Stuyvesant's, another local tavern on the southwest corner of Bergen and Glenwood Avenues. James Gore King, a prominent businessmen and Whig PartyWhig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
politician endorsed General Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott was a United States Army general, and unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Whig Party in 1852....
's bid for presidency, a fellow whig, and gave a speech in support at the Three Pigeons in 1852. It had been used repeatedly during the remainder of the 19th century as a landmark for describing official government and military positions, as well as in deed purchases. Finally in 1893, the Three Pigeons was destroyed.