In Colonial times there were inns. The inns were a little different than today's.
Innkeepers had a big job of taking care of the travelers. For, example they had to stay up late till the last travelers went to sleep. Isaac Watkins enjoyed having travelers stay at his house so he turned his home into a inn, and called it the Red Lion. An old English tradition was for each room to have it's own name.
There were laws for inns too, such as, inns needing have easy-to-spot signs for travelers to see. They also had to have to have signs easy enough for travelers who could not read. Innkeepers could not charge more than sixpence, ( six pennies ) a meal. In 1660, Massachusetts made a law that every town to have a place for traveler to stay. Also, innkeepers had to have a licence to run a inn.
