The Bunch-of-Grapes was a tavern located on King Street ( State Street) in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in the

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in New England which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of Eng ...

in the 17th and 18th centuries. It served multiple functions in the life of the town, as one could buy drinks and meet friends, business associates, political co-conspirators. The facade of the Bunch-of-Grapes building featured an iconic sign: "Three gilded clusters of grapes dangled temptingly over the door before the eye of the passer-by."Samuel Adams Drake and Walter Kendall Watkins. Old Boston taverns and tavern clubs. Boston, W.A. Butterfield, 1917.

Brief history

Notable events occurred on tavern premises. "On Monday, July 30, 1733, the first grand lodge of Masons in America was organized here by Henry Price, a Boston tailor, who had received authority from Lord Montague, Grand Master of England, for the purpose." In 1769, the tavern offered tickets for "Love in a Village", the first professional opera performance in Boston. Artist Christian Remick (b.1726) displayed his paintings in the tavern in 1769. A darker chapter in the tavern's history involved slavery. For potential buyers, a "search for slave labor in Boston began and ended along the bustling King Street corridor that connected the warehouses of Long Wharf to the commercial center of town. Three of Boston's busiest public houses -- the Royal Exchange, the Crown Coffee-House, and the Bunch of Grapes tavern- lined that half-mile stretch. All offered fine drink and lively conversation, and at times all served as clearinghouses for slaves."Robert E. Desrochers, Jr.. Slave-for-Sale Advertisements and Slavery in Massachusetts, 1704-1781. The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 59, No. 3, Slaveries in the Atlantic World (Jul., 2002), p.627. In the revolutionary era, "the Bunch of Grapes became the resort of the High Whigs, who made it a sort of political headquarters, in which patriotism only passed current, and it was known as the Whig tavern."

Paul Revere Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, military officer and industrialist who played a major role during the opening months of the American Revolutionary War in Massachusetts, ...

and others gathered here. However, during the British occupation of Boston, British troops met at the tavern. In January 1776,

James Henry Craig General Sir James Henry Craig KB (1748 – 12 January 1812) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor general of British North America from 1807 to 1811. Early life and military service Craig came from a ...

, company commander of the

47th (Lancashire) Regiment of Foot The 47th (Lancashire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in Scotland in 1741. It served in North America during the Seven Years' War and American Revolutionary War and also fought during the Napoleonic Wars and ...

, arranged a meeting at the tavern: "The ancient and most benevolent of the Friendly Brothers of St. Patrick. The Principal Knot of the 47th Regiment is to meet at the Bunch of Grapes on Thursday the 29th inst. at eleven o'clock in the forenoon." After the

Siege of Boston The siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. In the siege, Patriot (American Revolution), American patriot militia led by newly-installed Continental Army commander George Wash ...

ended in March 1776, "General Washington was handsomely entertained" at the Bunch-of-Grapes, as were Lafayette and General

John Stark Major-General John Stark (August 28, 1728 – May 8, 1822) was an American military officer who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. He became known as the "Hero of Bennington" for his exemplary service at the Ba ...

. In March, 1786,

Rufus Putnam Rufus Putnam (April 9, 1738 – May 4, 1824) was an American military officer who fought during the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. As an organizer of the Ohio Company of Associates, he was instrumental in the initial co ...

Benjamin Tupper Benjamin Tupper (March 11, 1738 – June 7, 1792) was an American soldier in the French and Indian War, and an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, achieving the rank of brevet brigadier general. Subsequently ...

Samuel Holden Parsons Samuel Holden Parsons (May 14, 1737 – November 17, 1789) was an American lawyer, jurist, generalHeitman, ''Officers of the Continental Army'', 428. in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and a pioneer to the Ohio Countr ...

, and

Manasseh Cutler Manasseh Cutler (May 13, 1742 – July 28, 1823) was an American Congregational clergyman involved in the American Revolutionary War. He was influential in the passage of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and wrote the section prohibiting sla ...

met at the tavern and formed the

Ohio Company of Associates The Ohio Company of Associates, also known as the Ohio Company, was a land company whose members are today credited with becoming the first non-Native Americans in the United States, Native American group to permanently settle west of the Alle ...

, which led to a contract being drawn up that sold about five percent of the State of Ohio to this group of Revolutionary War Veterans. This land was in the Southeastern part of Ohio. Provisions of the contract included setting aside two townships in the center of the purchase for a university. Thus,

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

(first chartered as American Western University) became the first land grant institution of higher education in the United States, preceding the more famous Morrill Act land grant institutions by nearly three-quarters of a century. Owners of the tavern included William Davis (prior to 1658), William Ingram (1658); John Holbrook (1680), Thomas Waite (1731), and Elisha Doane (1773).Annie Haven Thwing. The crooked & narrow streets of the town of Boston 1630-1822. Marshall Jones Company, 1920; p.137. Keepers of the tavern included: Francis Holmes (1690–1712); Mrs. Francis Holmes (1712-ca.1731); William Coffin (1731–1733); Edward Lutwich (1734); Joshua Barker (1749); Mr. Weatherhead (1750-ca.1757); Joseph Ingersol (1764–1772); John Marston (ca.1776-1778); William Foster (1782); James Vila (1789); and Dudley Colman (1790). The Bunch-of-Grapes building was demolished in 1798,Thwing, 1920; p.137 and a commemorative plaque exists on the State Street site today.Historic Taverns of Boston
2006.

References

Bibliography

* Randall, Emilius Oviatt (1850-1919): ''The Bunch of Grapes Tavern'', Ohio Archæological and Historical Society Publications: Volume 20

911 911, 9/11 or Nine Eleven may refer to: Dates * AD 911 * 911 BC * September 11 ** The 2001 September 11 attacks on the United States by al-Qaeda, commonly referred to as 9/11 ** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that ousted the ...

p. 136.

External links

* National Heritage Museum, Massachusetts
St. John's Lodge Officers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunch-Of-Grapes Buildings and structures demolished in 1798 Demolished buildings and structures in Boston Financial District, Boston 18th century in Boston 17th century in Boston Taverns in Massachusetts 1798 disestablishments in Massachusetts

Brief history

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links