A Tavern for the Frost Faire at Pottsgrove Manor on December 12, 2020

CANCELLED Public houses and taverns played an integral role in the commercial life of the American Colonies.  They weren’t simply places to drink. They were a place to meet like-minded individuals, meeting places at which to conduct business, and clearinghouses for news about both local and global events.  The local tavern quite likely was the …

Thanksgiving – 1770’s Style

In 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation designating November 26 of that year as a national day of thanksgiving to recognize the role of providence in creating the new United States and the new federal Constitution.  Thanksgiving as a celebration of surviving the first year of the Plymouth Colony had been celebrated in Massachusetts …

Ah yes, the omnipresent conspiracy theories of the GOP…

In late 1621, about four or five dozen Pilgrims — settlers in the New World from England — and roughly 90 Native Americans celebrated the settlers’ first successful harvest in North America but Thanksgiving wasn’t celebrated EVERY year.  The first official national day of thanks was November 26, 1789, created by proclamation by President George …