Category: Taverns

Munroe Tavern (1695)

by Dan//Colonial, Lexington, Taverns

Munroe Tavern

Munroe Tavern, located one mile east of Lexington Common, was built around 1695. The Tavern is named for William Munroe, who was its proprietor from 1770 to 1827. Munroe was also an orderly sergeant in Captain Parker’s minuteman company in 1775. During the Battle of Lexington, on April 19, 1775, the Tavern was occupied by the British for an hour-and-a-half. The Tavern‘s dining room became a field hospital and Brigadier General Earl Percy, who arrived with British reinforcements, used it as his headquarters. George Washington dined at the Tavern during his 1789 visit to the Lexington battlefield. The Tavern is now a museum operated by the Lexington Historical Society.

Buckman Tavern (1690)

by Dan//Colonial, Lexington, Taverns

Buckman Tavern

Buckman Tavern, off Lexington Green, was built in 1690 by Benjamin Muzzey and by a license granted in 1693, it became the first Public House in Lexington. In the coming years it was run by Muzzey‘s son John, then by John’s granddaughter and her husband, John Buckman. By the 1770s, Buckman Tavern had become the favored gathering place for local militia men (members of the Lexington Training Band) on the days they trained on the Green. On April 19, 1775, it was here that the militia gathered before facing the British troops, when the first shot was fired which began the Revolutionary War. The Tavern continued to be Lexington’s busiest after the war and housed the towns first village store and post office. The town of Lexington acquired the Tavern in 1913 and, by a 99-year lease, the Lexington Historical Society undertook the furnishing of the building, which is open to the public as a museum.

Golden Ball Tavern (1768)

by Dan//Colonial, Houses, Taverns, Weston

Golden Ball Tavern

The Golden Ball Tavern was constructed by Captain Isaac Jones in 1768 on the Boston Post Road in Weston. Jones was a Tory and, during the agitation leading up to the Revolution, he continued to serve Dutch tea, in spite of local protest. In March 1774, Patriots raided the Tavern in what is known as the “Weston Tea Party.” Jones was prominent in the community, so the Tavern remained open, but in 1775, he is known to have entertained two British spies! Later becoming a supporter of the Revolutionary army, Jones continued as a prosperous citizen after the war and his descendants continued to live in his house until 1963. The following year, the house was established as a Trust and opened as the Golden Ball Tavern Museum.

Wright Tavern (1747)

by Dan//Colonial, Concord, Taverns

Wright Tavern, on Lexington Road in Concord, was built in 1747 by Ephraim Jones, who operated it until 1751. Standing in the center of town, it was a popular gathering place for Concord’s leading citizens. For five days in October 1774, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress met in the First Parish Church, next door, and the committees of the Congress met in the Tavern. In 1775, the Tavern was managed by Amos Wright. On the morning of the Battle of April 19, the Concord minutemen assembled at the Tavern. Later that day, the British force, under Maj. John Pitcairn, arrived and the British officers were served at the Tavern. The First Parish Unitarian Church of Concord now owns the building, which, since 1997, has been the Wright Tavern Center for Spiritual Renewal.

Atkinson Tavern (1789)

by Dan//Federal, Taverns, West Springfield

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Atkinson Tavern was built around 1789 in Prescott, MA as a home and tavern business for John Atkinson, a Revolutionary War veteran. In 1938, Prescott was one of four towns to be disincorporated to make way for the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir. With the Tavern’s original location acquired by the Metropolitan District Commission, Helen Storrow moved the building to the Eastern States Exposition grounds to become part of Storrowton. It is now leased by the Big E to be run as a restaurant called Storrowton Tavern.

Hall Tavern (1760)

by Dan//Colonial, Deerfield, Taverns

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The Hall Tavern Visitor Center at Historic Deerfield was originally built around 1760 on the Mohawk Trail in East Charlemont, not far from Deerfield. It became a tavern in the 1780s and a ballroom was added around 1800. In the early nineteenth century, the tavern was operated by Joel Hall and his wife, Lucretia Street Hall, whose embroidered blanket is in the collection of Historic Deerfield. Joel Hall, who purchased the building in 1807, also manufactured axes. In 1935, the Hall Tavern was the site of an exhibition by the Deerfield Valley Art Association. In the 1950s, the Tavern was moved to a site in Deerfield where a similar tavern, which burned down in 1799, had once stood. It is now the Visitor Center for tours of Historic Deerfield and the restored tavern kitchen is used for open hearth cooking classes. Behind the Tavern is the Cook’s Garden.

Frary House (1760) and Barnard Tavern (1795)

by Dan//Colonial, Deerfield, Houses, Taverns

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In 1890, Miss Charlotte Alice Baker purchased a colonial home in Deerfield and, assisted by the architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, restored it in 1892 in one of the earliest efforts at historic preservation in Western Massachusetts. Baker also furnished the home in line with the ideas of the Colonial Revival and Arts and Crafts movements. At the time, the house was believed to have been built by the original Deerfield settler, Samson Frary, who owned the lot and built a house on it sometime after 1683. Frary was killed during the famous 1704 French and Indian Raid on Deerfield. C. Alice Baker, who was a descendant of Samson Frary, did research on the Deerfield captives and wrote a book called True Stories of New England Captives Carried to Canada During the Old French and Indian Wars (1897). She also wrote A Summer in the Azores (1882). Baker’s lifelong companion, Miss Susan Lane, died in 1893 and Miss Baker died in 1909.

The Frary House, now believed to have been built sometime in the late 1750s, is currently owned by Historic Deerfield. The Barnard Tavern is an addition to the Frary House, constructed in 1795. The home had been sold from the Frary to the Barnard families in 1752. With a large second-floor meeting room, the tavern was one of the centers of village life. At the Tavern’s bar, in 1775, Col. Benedict Arnold closed a contract to supply the expedition against Fort Ticonderoga. Recent research, though, suggests that the building may not have served the full functions of a tavern. Archeological work is also planned for the site.