Samuel Adams Drake — Old Boston Taverns and Tavern Clubs (1917, Illustrated Edition) — Colonial & Revolutionary Boston History

Description

Samuel Adams Drake was one of the great chroniclers of early New England, and Old Boston Taverns and Tavern Clubs remains one of his most enduring works. First published in the late 19th century and expanded in this 1917 illustrated edition, the book resurfaces the social life of colonial and Revolutionary Boston through its inns, ordinaries, and tavern rooms—places where gossip, resistance, political alliances, and everyday life converged. From Cole’s Inn to the Bunch of Grapes to the famed Green Dragon, Drake and Watkins trace how these establishments shaped Boston’s civic and cultural identity.

This edition benefits from an added historical appendix and a list of tavern owners drawn from Massachusetts Historical Society records, along with period illustrations that anchor each chapter in place. For collectors of Bostoniana, early American social history, or Revolutionary War-era material, it’s a wonderfully evocative resource—one that reads like a walking tour through vanished streets.

A richly illustrated and well-preserved history of Boston’s most storied gathering places—perfect for collectors and ready to shelve beside your early Americana.