Tavern Sign, S. Chapin

Double-Sided Tavern Sign, S. Chapin (Sumner Chapin), Chicopee Parish, Massachusetts, ca. 1830-1850.  Pine with polychrome paint, textured surface below with gilt paint lettering.  The iron strap hangers were reproduced at Colonial Williamsburg to match the originals.  The sign retains all the original paint and has survived in an amazing state of preservation.  Colonel Abel Chapin and his sons, Sumner and Abel, specialized in raising cattle for the New York and Brighton markets.  They garnered many awards and national recognition for raising oxen of exceptional size.  Their success is documented in many articles and advertisements found throughout the period.  Following Abel Senior's death in 1831, his sons took over the family business.  Ultimately Sumner became the new head of the household and chief operator of the farm.  We assume the tavern sign was made during this period of transition.  In 1785, Colonel Abel Chapin (1756-1831) built a large home on Chicopee Street bordering the Connecticut River.  His home and farm were strategially located on the main thoroughfare, just north of the Jones Ferry that shuttled people, cattle and other cargo across the Great River.  According to an account published in 1899 by a town antiquarian, the building served as a tavern and headquarters for Chapin's large farm and cattle fattening operation: "...hanging out under the old elm tree the sign...told of good cheer and hospitality within.  This sign, still in existence, shows on one side haystacks and sheaves of grain, on the other an ox and sheep with the name, S. Chapin, in large letters underneath." [1]  The home is memorialized in a postcard that illustrates a late 19th century view of the house and its then-owner, probably Sumner Chapin (1798-1881) or Abel Chapin (1791-1870), sons of Colonel Abel Chapin and second generation owners of the family homestead.  The postcard is entitled "OLD STAGE TAVERN/Built in 1785 by Col. Abel Chapin."  The building was torn down in 1934. [2]

[1]  Clara Skeele Palmer, Animals of Chicopee Street (Springfield, MA:  Henry R. Johnson, 1899), p. 46.

[2]  The house is illustrated in Palmer and Stephen R. Jendrysik's Postcard History Series:  Chicopee (Portsmouth, NH:  Arcadia Publishing, 2005), P. 10.

38.75"h x 44.5"w
Item Number: FA-TRDSGN 245-V2