The next picture on the wall of the Beaune Museum is a drawing of the Indian Head Tavern, a city tavern which drew its name from the preserved head of an Indian which was displayed on a pike for many years. The original head disappeared during the Revolution, but the name stuck.
The Beaunes took a suite of rooms upstairs in the Tavern, overlooking Cedar Street. There, they rested and recovered from their voyage, and began to make plans for their next step.
While Marie-Helene stayed in bed at the Tavern, Auguste consulted a number of experts in horticulture who lived in the city. Everyone he consulted agreed that the best country for apple cultivation could be found in Washington County, a six-day journey by Conestoga Wagon. And so the die was cast; Auguste purchased a large tract of land complete with mill and cider press at Cidertown, between Dingman's Hat and Ticklish Rock.
To make the journey to Cidertown, Auguste purchased three large Conestoga wagons, each with a team of four horses. Since Marie-Helene was in no condition to drive a wagon (and Mary, the governess, lacked the skill), Auguste hired two men to help: Rufus Witherspoon, a local teamster itching to go west, and Albert DuToit, a black freedman from Haiti who had befriended Auguste in the Tavern.
According to Marie-Helene's diary, the six-day journey by Conestoga wagon over rough and unpaved roads was miserable.
But then, what would you expect?
Anyway, they arrived in Cidertown, evicted some families who were squatting on the land, and built a temporary shelter where Marie-Helene, who was heavy with child, could be miserable without getting in the way.
Soon thereafter, she had her baby, without epidurals and other stuff that make contemporary childbirth a snap. The event was completely miserable, and messy, but in the end she gave birth to a baby boy, which completely made up for disappointing results the previous five times.
Joyfully, Auguste and Marie-Helene named the baby Robert.
