The Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York City will host “The Defeat of the British Southern Strategy to Conquer America,” a virtual lecture with Kenneth Scarlett set for Thursday, March 16th. [Read more…] about The Defeat of the British Southern Strategy
Fraunces Tavern Museum
The Rise and Fall of Charles Willson Peale’s Museum
Charles Willson Peale was an American painter, soldier, scientist, inventor, politician and naturalist. He is best remembered for his portrait paintings of leading figures of the American Revolution, and for establishing one of the first museums in the United States.
In 1786, Charles Willson Peale created what is considered the most important — and most famous — museum in Revolutionary era America. A fusion of natural history and art, Peale’s Philadelphia Museum was meant to be an embodiment of the Enlightenment. [Read more…] about The Rise and Fall of Charles Willson Peale’s Museum
NYC Evacuation Day Dinner at Fraunces Tavern
The Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York City will host an Evacuation Day Dinner, replicating the very same thirteen toasts given at the first Evacuation Day dinner at Fraunces Tavern on November 25th, 1783, on Monday November, 21, 2022. [Read more…] about NYC Evacuation Day Dinner at Fraunces Tavern
Landmarks of the American Revolution
The book In the Founders’ Footsteps: Landmarks of the American Revolution (David R. Godine, 2022) by Adam Van Doren takes a look at the original thirteen colonies in search of historical sites and their stories in America’s founding. [Read more…] about Landmarks of the American Revolution
Poor Richard’s Women: An Intimate Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Everyone knows Benjamin Franklin — the thrifty inventor-statesman of the Revolutionary era — but not about his love life. The most prominent among them was Deborah Read Franklin, his common-law wife and partner for 44 years.
Long dismissed by historians, she was an independent, politically savvy woman and devoted wife who raised their children, managed his finances, and fought off angry mobs at gunpoint while he traipsed about England. [Read more…] about Poor Richard’s Women: An Intimate Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
August 23, 1775: The British Bombard the City of New York
On the night of August 23, 1775, during what is now remembered as the Raid on the Battery, the HMS Asia, a 64-gun British battleship, bombarded the city of New York’s shoreline with cannonballs and grapeshot.
The melee was started by Captain John Lamb’s company of Patriots, who attempted to steal British cannons from The Battery, at the tip of Manhattan Island. [Read more…] about August 23, 1775: The British Bombard the City of New York
Cloaked Crusader: George Washington in Comics and Pop Culture
George Washington’s persona has been showcased in comics and pop culture; in traditional reenactments of famous events; and in appearances in modern times with the likes of Superman, Captain America and other famous heroes.
A new exhibit at Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan explores how Washington has become a mythical figure and superhero in his own right — a metaphor for good and justice. [Read more…] about Cloaked Crusader: George Washington in Comics and Pop Culture
Slavery, Abolition and the Jay Family
The Fraunces Tavern Museum will host “Liberty’s Chain: Slavery, Abolition, and the Jay Family of New York,” a free virtual lecture based on the book of the same name by David Gellman, set for Thursday, August 11th. [Read more…] about Slavery, Abolition and the Jay Family
Governing the Nation from Fraunces Tavern
From 1785 to 1788, between the end of the American Revolution and the ratification of the United States Constitution, the Congress of the Confederation rented rooms at Fraunces Tavern for three government departments.
During this time, George Washington’s compatriots in the Revolution, John Jay and Henry Knox, headed the Departments of Foreign Affairs and War respectively. Offices of the Board of Treasury were also located in the same building. [Read more…] about Governing the Nation from Fraunces Tavern
American Experience in the West Indies, 1740-1742
Thirty-five years before the battles of Lexington and Concord, the British colonies in North America raised a regiment to serve in the British Army for an expedition to seize control of the Spanish West Indies.
Colonial volunteers, 4,000 strong, joined 9,000 British soldiers and 15,000 British sailors in a bold amphibious campaign against the key port of Cartagena de Indias. The expedition marked the first time American soldiers deployed overseas.
[Read more…] about American Experience in the West Indies, 1740-1742