Intersection of Vosseller Avenue and the Central N. J. Railroad

The tavern adjacent to Middle Brook was the earliest establishment of its kind to appear in the area first known as Middlebrook. Erected in 1752, it occupied a site on the King's Highway, or Old York Road, that eventually became West Main Street of the Borough of Bound Brook. Also, it served as a stage stop for the SafeSure Stage Line -New York to Philadelphia. From all accounts the tavern's location was well chosen. Not only did the weary traveler find its hospitality inviting, but thirsty British, French, and American soldiers made it a resting place from time to time as they trudged by.

Having housed many eminent guests in its lifetime of 180 years was in itself a mark of some distinction, but a greater claim to fame was its use during the winter of 1778-79 as the meeting place for the Masonic Lodge that General Washington attended. Meetings such as these must have been venturesome undertakings, for then the British occupied New Brunswick, his own forces were encamped over an extensive area, and his headquarters at the Wallace House were four miles away. With Tory spies in the neighborhood, word could have been carried to the British of this opportunity to capture the Commander-in-Chief, as was done with General Charles Lee the year before. However, the Life Guards, a European adjunct to a commander's staff, had the responsibility for the General's safety, else he would not have dared the chance.

On or about 1860 the tavern changed its name to that of its owner. Thereafter it was called the (Isaac) Fisher Hotel, and as such it ceased to exist about 1920. Finally, uncared for, the tavern was demolished, and with it went the bayonet marks and scars left on the tap-room walls, doors and ceiling by British soldiers in their periods of exultation. Later the land went from Fisher to Coddington and by deed to the Borough of Bound Brook as a park, thus relieving its last owner of taxes he no longer wished to pay.

But the site -what can be done with it? Yes, it has a future and a fitting one: "To make of it a well-kept park or playground, memorializing the beginning of Bound Brook and the long chain of events that followed."