St. Patrick’s Day Celebrated at a Carlisle tavern in 1807

Sheaffer & Williamson General Store

The old Eagle and Harp tavern, built in 1803 for Charles McManus, is still standing in Carlisle at 131 North East Street. It was there on Tuesday, March 17, 1807, that “a few of the sons of St. Patrick” met to celebrate the patron of Ireland.

It was the tradition to drink toasts when commemorating an anniversary or other events, and some of the toasts that the men drank to that night were published in Kline’s Carlisle Weekly Gazette on March 20, 1807. To St. Patrick, To The President of the United States, To the Land we live in, To a speedy emancipation to the oppressed of Ireland, To the memory of the late B. Franklin Bache, and To the persecuted of all Countries, but particularly those of Ireland.

As well as toasts, songs were sung. Mr. Dennis Brady of Lancaster performed a song in the Irish language that was composed in honor of Patrick McManus.

The number of Irish residing in Carlisle, Springfield, and other locations in Cumberland County increased significantly after the 1798 Irish Rebellion. Many of these men were naturalized here, and their paperwork is available online via the Cumberland County Archives, Office of the Prothonotary.

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