Lucas Tavern, located in Old Alabama Town, is the oldest known structure in Montgomery. The building can be traced to 1818, if not earlier. The tavern originally stood in Waugh on the Old Federal Road, which brought travelers and settlers into central Alabama and beyond. The building was constructed on the border of the Alabama territory and the Creek Indian territory and was the first place travelers would have come to after passing through the Indian’s. Back in those days, a tavern was a place where one could eat, sleep in a real bed (even if it was shared), feed and rest your animals, and take a bath. The Federal Road was very inhospitable and the tavern would have been a welcomed site to weary travelers.
The most famous owners of the tavern were Walter and Eliza Lucas. While they were not the original owners of the tavern, they made it the most prosperous. Mrs. Lucas was well known for her cooking and hospitality. An Englishman traveling through the area around 1835 wrote down the menu offered by Mrs. Lucas. The food included “chicken pie, ham, five vegetables, pudding and sauce, sweet pies, preserved fruits, a dessert of strawberries and plums and wine and brandy.” All of this was served for 75 cents. If Chris’s Hotdogs had been around in 1835, perhaps our English traveler would have also provided details of his hotdog meal.
In addition to the tavern, Mr. Lucas owned a store in Montgomery along with a boat which he would use to travel to Mobile where he would sell cotton and buy goods for the store and tavern. Mr. Lucas is also the one who suggested the name of “Montgomery” to Andrew Dexter when the new city was formed.
