Highway travel today is notable for the number of services available on both interstate and secondary roads. Automobile fuel and repairs, food, and lodging are just some of the amenities available, all easily located thanks to an abundance of signs large and small.
In the 18th and early 19th centuries travelers needed to search more carefully to find food and lodging, but then, too, signs were the key. Not the huge, lighted manufactured signs we encounter in today’s landscape, but rather handcrafted examples hanging from or in front of taverns and inns. While the vast majority of such signs are the work of unidentified painters, the work of William Rice (1777-1847) stands out, not only due to the very high quality of his work, but because he actually signed his signs.
This Massachusetts native worked in Worcester until 1816, when he relocated to Hartford. Besides signs, he produced all types of ornamental painting, on carriages, houses, military flags, banners and accoutrements, Using Hartford as his base, Rice (later in partnership with son Frederick) is believed to have traveled about the region, offering his service. An inventory of surviving signs suggests that his business was largely centered in Hartford and Litchfield counties in the period 1816 to 1847.
Rice’s work featured imagery of the highest order, and incorporated materials such as “smalt” (ground glass that shimmered in low light settings), plus gold, silver, and even copper leaf, to achieve marvelous visual effects Most of his work in consisted of large, rectangular signs with molded frames and heavy duty iron hardware for hanging. These signs typically feature different images on each side; among the most popular images being eagles, lions, plows, and patriotic devices such as shields with stands of arms and banners. A small sign in the CHS collection with lion imagery is believed to have been a “salesman’s sample”, a marketing tool used by Rice to impress potential clients. It is small enough to have been carried on horseback, yet large enough to illustrate Rice’s artistic abilities.
Rice turned over more and more of the work to Frederick after the latter joined the business in the early 1840s. Following his father’s death in 1847, Frederick continued working until his own death in 1877, producing custom-decorated flags for Connecticut regiments called into Civil War service as well as signs and banners.
The Connecticut Historical Society has the nation’s largest collection of period tavern, inn and hotel signs, including nine examples by William or Frederick Rice currently on exhibition. Exhibition hours are Tuesday thru Friday from 12-5 and Saturday 9-5. Resources dealing with taverns, highways, and related topics may be explored by visiting the Waterman Research Center at One Elizabeth Street, Hartford, Connecticut. The Research Center is open Thursday from 12-5 and Friday and Saturday from 9-5. For more information on taverns and signs go to chs.org, where selected images may be accessed through eMuseum and Connecticut History Online.
