This Restaurant in New York Claims to Be Oldest in America

A tiny restaurant in New York claims to be the oldest in America... but is it really?

Two eateries have been duking it out for years that they deserve the title as the country's oldest: the White Horse Tavern in Rhode Island and the Wayside Inn in Massachusetts.

The White Horse Tavern opened in 1673, but was eventually turned into a boarding house. It was restored in 1952 and opened as a restaurant once more. So while it is technically America's oldest, it didn't spend its entire history as an eatery.

That's where Wayside butts in, because it remained a restaurant since its opening in 1686, and does hold the title of the nation's oldest, continually running establishments.

But there is one tiny tavern in New York that claims to be even older than both restaurants: The Old '76 House.

Whether or not this is actually America's oldest restaurant has yet to be proven or verified, the establishment does hold the title for being oldest in New York State.

The restaurant also noted in an recount of its history:

Casparus Mabie owned the tavern and shared its operation with his brother Yoast. The Mabies were among Tappan’s founding families. Precisely when this building was built is unknown; records show that Casparus expanded it to tavern-size when he bought it in 1754.

The tavern also has an honorary title for having one of the most fascinating origin stories.

Located in Tappan, the eatery claims it opened in 1668, but its real history began during the Revolutionary War, when it wa called Mabie's Inn.

The Old '76 House established itself as a safe ground for Americans when the air was rife with revolution and the tavern itself served as the "prison" of the Revolution's most notorious spy, Major John Andre.

Andre plotted with the scorned Benedict Arnold to surrender West Point to the British, but those plans were foiled when the spy was apprehended in Tarrytown.

Andre met with both Arnold and Joshua Hett Smith on "Treason Hill" to map out how West Point would fall. Those papers were on him when American soldiers stopped him on his way back to the British.

General George Washington was using Tappan as his headquarters, so Andre was imprisoned in Mabie's Inn. The spy stood trial at the nearby Dutch Church and was sentenced to death.

He was hung on October 2, 1780.

Had Andre succeeded and West Point fell to the British, the trajectory of the war might have looked very different.

Read More: What Happened to the Oldest School in Utica?

Regardless of when this restaurant opened, the landmark is understandably one of the most important if not most fascinating scenes of the Revolutionary War.

Historians have tried to prove or disprove the tavern's origins, but an agreement has yet to be made about the restaurant's true story.

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