Learn about Weston's Revolutionary History

In commemoration of the 247th anniversary of the Weston Tea Party, the Golden Ball Tavern Museum and Weston Historical Society welcome historian Benjamin L. Carp, Ph.D. for a special presentation titled "Weston's Revolution: Taverns, Tea, and Turncoats." This online program will take place at 6:00pm EDT on Thursday, March 25, 2021 via Zoom. Tickets are free, but any donation is welcome as the program supports the Golden Ball Tavern Museum and the Weston Historical Society.

This talk will discuss Isaac Jones and the Golden Ball Tavern in the context of recent developments in the study of Revolutionary history. Benjamin L. Carp will talk about doing politics in taverns like the Golden Ball; taverns were surprisingly important places for mobilizing communities. Professor Carp will also discuss the relationship between the Boston Tea Party and Weston figures like Jones and Samuel Phillips Savage. Finally, Dr. Carp will discuss the surprising ease with which many so-called “Loyalists” like Jones were able to integrate into their communities and remain in the United States. Indeed, the history of the Golden Ball Tavern and the life of Isaac Jones show that we need better categories for understanding the people who lived through the Revolutionary Era.

Benjamin L. Carp is the Daniel M. Lyons Associate Professor of American History at Brooklyn College. He is the author of Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America (2010), which won the triennial Society of the Cincinnati Cox Book Prize in 2013; and Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution (2007). With Richard D. Brown, he co-edited Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, 1760-1791: Documents and Essays, 3rd ed.(2014). He has written about nationalism, firefighters, Benjamin Franklin, and Quaker merchants in Charleston. He has also written articles for Colonial Williamsburg, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. Prior to joining Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center at CUNY, he taught at the University of Edinburgh and Tufts University. He is currently writing a book on the Great Fire of New York City in 1776.

Built in 1768, the Golden Ball Tavern was the home of Isaac Jones, a prominent British Loyalist who later converted to the Patriot cause. The Tavern “at the sign of the Golden Ball,” operated as an inn from 1770 to 1793 and served as a base for British spies in 1775 just prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. The house was occupied and carefully preserved for 200 years by 6 generations of the Jones family before being acquired by the Golden Ball Tavern Trust in 1964. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Golden Ball Tavern Museum contains hundreds of artifacts and tells a multitude of stories, richly reflecting the material culture and dynamic history of early New England.