Events

Enjoy First Friday, eighteenth-century style. Patrons are invited to an evening of storytelling, merriment, and the colonial tavern experience complete with period cocktails by the Regimental Brewmeister available for purchase, tavern games, and competitive toasts. Outside the church, the tavern was the most important institution in most towns. Taverns were used as meeting places for political assemblies (like the militia or the courts). When people needed to conduct business meetings or hold markets, their choices were generally the church or the tavern. Since the Colonial Legislatures often offered inducements to tavern owners, they saw these businesses as “operating for the common good,” which ultimately meant that tavern meeting rooms could be appropriated for government business like courts, polls, and meetings of the militia. People relied on taverns as the primary means of spreading news and ideas. Newspapers and stories were often shared by travelers in taverns. As conflicts erupted between the Crown and her colonies in the 1760s, it was in the taverns that men discussed their responses and ultimate aims. It was in the colonial tavern that the revolutionary spirit launched our nation. “To drink at a table without drinking to the health of someone special, should be considered drinking on the Sly, and as an act of incivility.” – Poor Richard Don your tricorn hat and join us for a four-day exploration of Revolutionary America, led by living historian Michael Carver, the Regimental Brewmeister! FULL SCHEDULE Lecture on the Role of Jews in the American Revolution Thursday, December 3 | 5PM 18th Century Tavern Night Friday, December 4 | 5–8PM Revolutionary Spycraft Family Workshop Saturday, December 5 | 11AM–3PM 18th Century Surveying Demonstration Sunday, December 6 | 11AM–2PM The Spirit of 1776 program series complements the Albany Institute’s exhibition Albany, c. 1776, which explores illustrates Albany’s role during the Revolutionary era. Philadelphia-based living historian Michael Carver, the Regimental Brewmeister, has more than 30 years of home-brewing experience and has portrayed Revolutionary-era life for more than 15 years. Drawing on his background as a chemist, brewer, and reenactor, he brings the crafts, technologies, and everyday experiences of eighteenth-century America to life through engaging, hands-on programs.