Day 131, June 6

Did you know that many important events of the Revolutionary War took place in taverns?  I didn't.

Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence while sitting in the Queen's Tavern in Philadelphia.  George Washington centered his headquarters in a tavern while he was in New York.  John Adams managed his own tavern from 1783 to 1789.  The first official recruiting office of the United States Marine Corps was held in Tun Tavern in Philadelphia.  It was in a New York tavern where George Washington bid his troops farewell.

Paul Revere recorded this in his diary:

"In the fall of 1774, I was one of upwards of 30 men who formed ourselves into a committee for the watching of movements of British soldiers and the Tories in our midst.  We met at the Green Dragon Tavern in Boston."

Tavern keeping was a respectable business in those days, the tavern keeper an important man in town.  He was in many cases the political leader of the community.  He was also the town banker, the town gosspi.  His wife was, in many cases, the community's social and cultural leader.