Old Jamestown – The Blind Horse Dance

While doing research, I came across a series of articles that appeared in the Jamestown Evening Post from November 1919 through February, 1920. The were simply entitled "Old Jamestown" or "Old Jamestowners" and dealt with the early history of the city.

The following article deals with the first dance in Jamestown back in 1816. It would be referred to for years afterward as "The Blind Horse Dance."

Old Jamestown

(Jamestown Evening Post – Jan. 7, 1920)

The Allen Tavern - Built in 1815 at the Southwest Corner of Main and Third Streets, burned in 1852. It's not known if this is the structure that hosted the "Blind Horse Dance," but it was built during the same time period.

With dances held almost every night in the year, and often half dozen of them on the same evening in 1920, it may be of interest to speak briefly of the first dance held in the village. This was a New Year’s ball, held on Jan. 1, 1816.  A large hotel was in process of erection at the corner of Main and Third streets, and the “ballroom” was finished in haste for this party. Invitations had been sent for miles around. The ballroom was on the ground floor. 

While the merry company was engaged in the popular dances of a hundred years ago, some “rough necks” who were not invited got hold of an old blind horse that was loose in the community, led it to the door of the dance room, and at a propitious moment when the floor was crowded with dancers, burst open the door and gave the blind horse a slap which sent him waltzing into the middle of the floor and the dancers as quickly waltzing out of range. It is reported that he “danced down the center, with a pace quickened by the music, in a straight line, with no ‘allemand’ either to the right or the left, scattering dancers and finally bringing up short at the fireplace in the opposite end of the room.”  The first dance in the village was long remembered as “the blind horse dance.”