NYC’s oldest bar, McSorley’s Old Ale House, ready to welcome St. Patrick’s Day crowds

With Saint Patrick’s Day just around the corner, McSorley’s Old Ale House — located in the East Village on East 7th Street by Cooper Square — is readying to welcome a crowd of beer-loving New Yorkers and out-of-towners alike. What sets this watering hole apart, aside from its limited “dark or light” menu, is that it’s the oldest bar in the city, a distinction proven after extensive researchby the bar’s official historian Bill Wander. We recently paid the Irish tavern a visit to capture itshistoric details such as the original wooden bar and pot-bellied stove; iconictchotchkes adorning the walls, which run the gamut fromshackles worn by a prisoner of war from the Civil War to ahorseshoe that legend says came from one of the horses that pulled Abraham Lincoln’s hearse; and the fun-loving crowd that can be seen there on a typical day. We also chatted withTeresa Maher,the very first woman to work behind the bar in 1994.