Detroit: Eagle Tavern (July 2017)



Eagle Tavern - Offers a Pleasant Respite during Your Tour

My spouse and I dined at the Eagle Tavern at Greenfield Village on a Monday afternoon in early July 2017. The Tavern is open for lunch from 11:00 am until 4:00 pm whenever Greenfield Village is open. The restaurant offers the only sit-down table-service meals in the Village, although there are many casual self-service mostly outdoor counters and restaurants, including the Sir John Bennett Sweet Shop, State Street Lunch Stand, Frozen Custard, Carousel Confections, Cotswold Cottage Tea (with seating adjacent to the adorable building on a patio surrounded by gorgeous flowers in the spring and summer), Mrs. Fisher’s Southern Cooking, Owl Night Lunch Wagon, and A Taste of History (an indoor cafeteria). 

As with all structures at Greenfield Village, the Eagle Tavern enjoys a long history. In the early 1800s, a stagecoach line operated between Michigan cities Detroit and Tecumseh, and eventually extending to Chicago, Illinois (the route was later called the Chicago Turnpike and US 12). As settlers from the east began to travel west along this route, taverns were built to feed and shelter them. In 1831, one of these outposts called the Parks Tavern opened in Clinton, Michigan. (It later changed its name to the Eagle Tavern in 1849; however, it was also known as the Union Hotel during the Civil War.) Weary travelers visited taverns to eat at common tables and sleep in common bedrooms; in addition, local people dropped in to socialize. 

At today’s Eagle Tavern, servers in colonial garb serve historically accurate food and drinks, most of whose ingredients are locally sourced from within 150 miles of the museum. Patrons can sit in the small barroom, in the main dining room, or on the covered side porch. (On the day that we visited, guests seemed to serve themselves at the bar and then carry their drinks outside to enjoy them on rocking chairs.) While you wait for your table, you can sit on wooden benches in the small sitting room where stagecoach passengers would have waited for their ride. You can peek into the Gathering Room/Ladies Parlor, where women and children congregated quietly before or after dinner while the boisterous men visited the barroom across the hall. The main dining room is large yet sparse, with many long communal wood tables and chairs. (If your party is smaller than 8 people, you must share table space; however, the hostesses are adept at spacing, staging, and staggering guests in order to allow maximum privacy.) Because in the tavern’s original days, electricity was not yet invented, today you dine by candlelight in the dim room; if you visit on a chilly day, a fire in the large hearth offers additional light. But not to worry: in several nods to modernity, the Tavern offers indoor plumbing in its restrooms, is fully air-conditioned, and accepts credit cards. (Note that the current main dining room was not original to the tavern; Henry Ford added it after he moved the building to the Village.)

The Eagle Tavern aims to remain as historically authentic and accurate as possible, so it serves the type of cuisine and beverages available in the 1800s. The tavern has a liquor license, so you can enjoy an alcoholic beverage with your meal if you so desire. The “temperance” drink section does not list any soft drinks because they would not have been available during in the 1800s; however, sodas are available if you ask. We ordered a pitcher of the (non-alcoholic) lemonade to share, which turned out to be a great value: a single glass was nearly $5, whereas the pitcher cost only $8 and contained 6+ glasses. Even the drinking straws were historically accurate, made of macaroni. (Metal straws would also have been appropriate during that time period way before plastic was invented.) While we waited for our meal, we enjoyed the complimentary rolls and cornbread, served with butter and berry jam. We ordered main dishes of chicken fricassee and beef; both hearty portions were served with a starch and a vegetable (that day it was green beans and potatoes) on period plates. Other entrĂ©e options (all priced around $20) included ham, trout, or noodles. In addition, the tavern offers soups, salads, and a meat-and-cheese plate as appetizers. Portions are plentiful, so regrettably we had to pass on the yummy sounding desserts.

Although not inexpensive (when compared with the self-serve casual dining options at the Village), our lunch at the Eagle Tavern was enjoyable and provided us a well-needed rest during our day of touring.










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