April 2015 Bridgewater Current Page 3

 

This is the first of three articles we’ll be doing about Dinkle Tavern to honor the 200th anniversary of its construction.

 

Dinkle Tavern’s 200th Anniversary 19th Century home survives floods and war.

 

William Magill settled the area just south of North River and by 1759, his son John, had obtained a 300-acre tract of land situated on what we now know as Bridgewater. By the latter part of the 18th century, the Magills sold their land to German immigrants and moved on to Tennessee.

 

One of those immigrants was Daniel Dinkle (now spelled Dinkel), a Lutheran elder who purchased land on the north bank of North River. Today that area is now part of the Town of Bridgewater. In 1809 he sold a portion of the land to his son, Jacob Dinkle, including the site of Dinkle Tavern that still exists today at 215 South Main Street.

 

Jacob was industrious and enterprising. As you might guess from the title of this article, he built his house around 1815 and records indicate that he operated an inn and tavern from this site as early as 1819. He also built the first bridge across North River around 1820 that came to be known as “Dinkle’s Bridge” according to historian John Wayland.

 

The Tavern and Floods

In Mr. Wayland’s book, “The History of Rockingham County,” five disastrous floods are recorded during the 1800s. So, it can be assumed that the renown Dinkle Tavern

sustained damage during these floods.

 

The Tavern and the Civil War

Very little Civil War history exists that specifically mentions Dinkle Tavern. As best as we can tell, the picture to the left is Civil War era or shortly thereafter and that is ascertained by the dress of the woman peering out the doorway.

 

What we do know is that the Warm Springs Turnpike was one of the major highways for both the North and the South. In May of 1862, General “Stonewall” Jackson and his army camped just south of Bridgewater. Seeing the river swollen from spring rains, General Jackson ordered his troops to place wagons side by side in the stream so that men and artillery could cross safely (Under Four Flags by C.E. May). Presumably, he marched past the Tavern on his northward trek.

Later Hotchkiss recorded in his Civil War Journal that in September of 1864 the Yankees had entered

Bridgewater. So, while we have no stories specific to Dinkle Tavern, we do know the residents living at that time saw both armies as they moved back and forth.

 

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