6 bars checked · updated 18 September 2026
The short answer
By claim, the oldest bar in New York State is the '76 House in Tappan, which appears in state-by-state lists with a date of 1668. By evidence the same house is still the answer, at a distance of nearly ninety years: a land deed of 1753, construction by Casparus Mabie in 1754, and Orange County supervisors documented meeting "at the House of Casparus Maybe" in 1756. Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan follows in 1762.
New York State divides neatly into two kinds of old drinking house, and the records for both are unusually good. In the lower Hudson Valley there are Dutch-colonial stone houses with a tavern corner, built by families who farmed and traded and served travellers as a sideline; their history comes down through deeds, county supervisors' minutes and Revolutionary War paperwork. In Manhattan there are the survivors of a city that rebuilt itself repeatedly, and their history comes down through city directories, licences and lawsuits. The Revolution supplies the drama in both places. Major John André, the British officer who dealt with Benedict Arnold, was held at the '76 House before his execution nearby in 1780, and General Nathanael Greene made it his headquarters. Washington said goodbye to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in 1783. What almost none of these houses can claim is unbroken trade, and the ones that can are Victorian.
The ’76 House on Tappan’s Main Street is the state’s most interesting case, because its real history is better than the one on the lists. A stone Dutch-colonial house with four fireplaces and low beams, built as a home with a tavern corner, it appears in the county record within two years of construction — which is about as good as colonial evidence gets. It has been run by the same family for close to four decades and turns up as a filming location for The Sopranos, which is its own kind of continuity.
Fraunces Tavern has the earliest Manhattan date and the most rebuilt fabric. McSorley’s has the longest run and the least accurate sign. Pete’s Tavern has the oldest building, of 1829. The White Horse Tavern has the literature. The city list is at the oldest bars in New York City, the national argument is in what is the oldest bar in America, and our grading rules are on the methodology page.
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Tappan, New York
The 1668 is not supported and does not come from the house, which claims a three-hundred-year-old structure: a land deed of 1753 and construction in 1754 are on record, and Orange County's supervisors are documented meeting 'at the House of Casparus Maybe' in 1756. Tavern use from the 1750s is well evidenced. The state licence names the house the Old 76 House, which is what the sign says, and Historic Tavern Inc as
New York City, New York
Samuel Fraunces opened the Queen's Head here in 1762 and Washington's farewell to his officers in 1783 is well documented. But the building later had many non-tavern uses and was largely reconstructed in 1907; a 2021 study found more original brick than assumed. 'Continuous since 1762' is not accurate. Two registers were read on 17 September 2026 in place of the encyclopedia the page had been leaning on. New York
New York City, New York
The Federal-style James Brown House is first recorded in 1817; records show a tavern in the ground-floor shop from at least 1835, probably earlier. The name 'Ear Inn' dates only from 1977, when the B of the old BAR sign was painted over.
New York City, New York
Historians note the site was a vacant lot in 1860-61, the building dates from no earlier than 1858, and John McSorley first appears in city directories in 1862. It likely opened 1861-62, not 1854, though it has traded ever since, serving 'near beer' in Prohibition. The city's own record now says much the same. New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission building database, read on 17 September 2026, gives 15
New York City, New York
The bar claims its first official drinking licence in 1864 and a grocery-and-grog trade from 1851-52, and neither has been traced to a record. The story that O. Henry wrote 'The Gift of the Magi' in a booth here is generally treated as apocryphal. On the trade today, New York State's register of active licences carries the house under its restaurant class rather than a bar class, held by 66 Irving LLC, which is a
New York City, New York
Wikipedia and the bar give 1880, when it opened as a longshoremen's bar; the literary reputation dates from the 1950s, and the bar was sold and renovated in 2019. No primary licence has been read. The federal register has now been searched by position, which this page had not done: the house has no entry of its own, and 567 Hudson Street falls inside the Greenwich Village Historic District, listed on the National
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