Exploring Woodstown, NJ – Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical

Shivers House Museum/Sign of Key Tavern

68 North Main Street

Woodstown, NJ 08098

(609) 216-8815

http://www.salemcountyclocks.com/the-big-red-house

Open: By Appointment Only-Please call/Special Events

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g46943-d34027431-r1039569744-Shrivers_House_Museum-Woodstown_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

The Shivers House at 68 North Main Street in Woodstown, NJ

The front of the Shivers House Museum at 68 Main Street from across the street

I got a personal tour of the Shivers House Museum and the Sign of Key Tavern, which is attached to the main house of the Shivers Family. The first part of the tour was of the Sign of Key Tavern, which consisted of The Hearth Room, where all the cooking took place and the Cage Bar room, where meals would be eaten and used for socialization.

I could see that the family business was very popular at the time when transportation was slower and these areas in the early 1700’s were barely populated. So this became the focal point of the communities. These taverns were part of the communication and transport systems of the country up until the Revolutionary War.

Later, family members built the the main house of which the tavern would be attached and thus began the home’s transformation to modern times. The house from the outside has a more symmetrical appearance but these changes on the outside altered the historic inside.

The History of the Shivers House:

In 1668, John Shivers at the bequest of King William of England was given thousands of acres to promote the hamlet development with what was then known as West Jersey.

Upon arrival, Shivers constructed on the property, utilizing Native American labor, a dam and saw mill on what would become Woodstown Lake. From here he milled the timber for his tavern. The tavern, The Sign of the Key, operated for 65 years on the corner of what is today Routes 40 and 45. Travelers could sleep, eat meals, communicate and trade furs from the area. After Shivers death, it was moved to its present location by his son, Samuel, as an addition to the current house.

The Shivers family owned the house through marriage through the Nineteen century.

The outside sign of the house

The informational sign on the history of the home and construction

The sign of the clock repair and antique shop business inside the house

(Much of the following research comes from owner Gregg Perry’s personal research on the house and family and from the personal tour Mr. Perry gave me of the house and grounds).

The first part of the house tour I took was of the old tavern section of the house. This had once been in a different area and moved here by the family and connected to the newly built house around 1726 when Tavern owner, John Shivers died.

The Cage Bar/ Dining room

The Dining Room area

The pewter materials in the Dining Room

The tavern was open in 1669 for business. The tavern has been here open for business from 1669 to 1720 until John Shivers died. The first part of the building served as the Kitchen area with an open hearth for cooking and serving. Meals were prepared here as well as keeping the building warm for guests who might stay overnight upstairs.

The second part of the building served as the Dining Room for the old Tavern. Visitors would have their meals served here and converse and socialize in this room. There is a rebuilt Cage Bar for serving alcohol. The old Tavern section of house has since been restored and has period furnishings and decorations.

The Cage Bar in the Tavern Room

The Tavern kitchen

The Hearth of the Kitchen is eleven feet wide by three feet deep by five feet high in opening containing two mobile cranes. The back firebox bricks are laid in a herringbone style pattern. A tavern hearth of this dimension would have allowed the cook to have multiple fires going in the firebox (Gregg Perry research).

The Kitchen of the Tavern

This is the room where all meals were prepared and served. It was also used as the central heating for the tavern in colder weather. It is decorated in period furnishings and pewter ware decorates the walls. This would have been used in serving at that period in the 1700’s.

The pewter materials

For the price of a penny today, a patron could have his choice of a tankard of ale or hard cider and a plate of whatever the entree was of the day as well as have the option to spend the night on the floor of the second floor with a burlap blanket. They could also have the horse fed and boarded if needed. The tavern had been in business in one form or another until the 1930’s when it closed for business during the Great Depression (Gregg Perry research).

The Main Part of the house was build 1723. This section of the home was built by John Shivers, whose portrait sits above the mantle.

The Grand Reception Room

The Grand Reception Room was built to impress visitors to the house and for entertaining for this prominent family. As the family accumulated wealth and social prominence in the area, the house was meant to impress people with its large fireplaces and tall ceilings.

The Portrait of John Shivers in the Grand Reception Room

The Grand Room

Much of the period furniture of the room has been restored back to its original form and the woodwork to the room is from the original house. Period clocks and decorations are from that period and part of the owners collection.

The Grand Room looking into the old Tavern

In the back of the Grand Reception room is the Keeping of Family Room where things were less formal. The room had been set up for Christmas. In the Keeping Room is the portrait of Samuel Shivers, John Shivers son above the fireplace.