inment, Stabling, and Provender for Horses, would be obliged
to all Gentlemen travelling and others for their customs and they
may depend on kind usage, by their Most Humble Servant,

JOSEPH BELT

So it is quite possible that it was still here and that General
Braddock's soldiers attracted by the name and sign stopped to slake
their thirst before continuing their long march to the West.

This Joseph Belt appears to have been the nephew of Col. Joseph Belt,
the original patentee of Chevy Chase. He was a highly respectable man
and well thought of.

Another tavern of that period was kept by John Orme who in his petition
for a license promised as did others of that period "to keep Tavern in
George Town, to keep good Rules and Orders and not suffer the loose and
disorderly persons to Tipple, Game, or Commit other disorders or
irregularities within his aforesaid House."

In the _Maryland Gazette_ in September in 1760 is a notice of horse
races to be held at George Town, the horses "to be Entered the Day
before Running, with Messrs. Joseph Belt and John Orme in George Town."

The same notice again in 1761. I wonder where the races took place. John
Orme was the son of the Rev. John Orme, a Presbyterian minister who
served as pastor at Upper Marlboro from 1720 until he died in 1758.

His tavern was apparently on the northeast corner of the present M
Street and Wisconsin Avenue, where the Farmers and Mechanics Branch of
Riggs Bank now stands.

In the _Maryland Gazette_ of September 29, 1768, Thomas Belt offers for
sale "At the house of Mr. John Orme, in George Town ... part of a Tract
of Land, called Chevy Chace, containing 200 and 300 acres about 5 miles
from said Town."

After the death of John Orme in 1772 his widow inserted a notice in the
paper--and added, "N. B. The Executrix will continue to keep Tavern for
ready money only. Lucy Orme."

But they were not left in straightened circumstances, and the three Orme
daughters married very well.

There is mention of a Cornelius Davies and also of John Wise keeping
tavern for short periods. This may have been the same John Wise who
later opened a tavern in Alexandria which became the well-known Gadsby's
Tavern.

Also there was Christian Boncer, during the Revolution who like John
Orme, before him, was likewise running a ferry over the Potomac.

And then in October, 1779, John Beall is referred to as occupying the
home where Joseph Belt formerly kept tave