Page 82 - Microsoft Word - miniz-digest-115-118.docx

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TUN TAVERNN
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TUN TAVERN

The Tun Tavern and brewery in
Philadelphia was founded in 1686 by Josh
Carpenter, a Quaker, on the road that led to
Carpenter’s Wharf on the Delaware.
Then, as now, taverns and pubs were
handy local meeting places and among the
Tun Tavern’s other claims to fame is that it
was the first places to host the inaugural
meeting of the Grand Lodge of the Masonic
Temple of Philadelphia, in 1732. It was also
home to the Societies of St George and St
Andrew, charitable organisations set up to
aid needy arrivals to the New World from England and Scotland respectively.
During the American War of Independence the
tavern played an important role in the political
and military foundations of the nascent
American state – Philadelphia being the
headquarters of the Continental Congress.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the
Congress met at the tavern on at least one
occasion – and Benjamin Franklin had drummed
up the Pennsylvania Militia there some 20 years
earlier to fight the French and their Indian allies
coming down from Canada.

On 10 November 1775, the Second Continental
Congress gave a commission to Samuel
Nicholas to raise two battalions of marines for service aboard the ships of the new American
Navy. Nicholas was a mason of the temple that
met at the Tun Tavern and established his
recruiting headquarters there. The new Marine
battalions first saw action at the Battle of
Nassau on 4 January 1776.

The Tun Tavern burnt down in 1781 and so did
not survive the War of Independence. It’s
former site is now occupied by Interstate 95.

The bottles shown are both from W. A. Lacy
and contain Bourbon. The second one was
especially commissioned by the US
Marines.

David Smith

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