Fraunces Tavern is a museum, bar and restaurant in New York City, situated at 54 Pearl Street at the corner of Pearl and Broad Streets in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. Fraunces Tavern played a prominent role in history before, during, and after the American Revolution. Before the war, Fraunces Tavern served as a meeting place for the Sons of Liberty; as the British Army prepared to evacuate New York City, it was the site for proceedings known as "The Birch Trials" (the culminating event in the emancipation of thousands of Black Loyalists - one of the largest emancipations of Black people prior to the American Civil War); once the British Army left, it was the site where, in late 1783, General George Washington was honored at a banquet celebrating the British Army evacuation and, days later, where Washington bid farewell to his officers. Later, when the United States capital was located in New York City, Fraunces Tavern was rented in 1785-1788 by the Congress of the Confederation to house the departments of Foreign Affairs and War, and offices of the Board of Treasury – serving, in essence, as the Nation's first executive office building.
Fraunces Tavern has been owned since 1904 by Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York Inc., which carried out a meticulous restoration between 1904 and 1907 to preserve what is today the oldest surviving building in Manhattan. A museum on the premises interprets the history of the American Revolutionary era, including the Fraunces Tavern building and its history, along with exhibitions of furnishings, communications, documents, personal artifacts and artworks. The building is visited by thousands of domestic and international tourists and school children annually. The tavern is a tourist site and a part of the NYC Revolutionary Trail, New York Freedom Trail, and the American Whiskey Trail. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a New York City designated landmark. In addition, the block on which Fraunces Tavern is located is a National Historic Landmark District and a New York City designated landmark district.
Early history Pre-Revolutionary history Stephanus van Cortlandt was first granted a water lot on November 19, 1686, which was filled in with landfill. He then retired in 1700 to his manor on the Hudson River and gave the property to his son-in-law, Étienne "Stephen" DeLancey, a French Huguenot who had married van Cortlandt's daughter, Anne. The DeLancey family contended with the Livingston family for leadership of the Province of New York.
DeLancey built the current building as a house in 1719. The small yellow bricks used in its construction were imported from the Dutch Republic and the sizable mansion ranked highly in the province for its quality. The firm Delancey, Robinson & Co., composed of Stephen De Lancey's son Oliver De Lancey, Beverley Robinson, and James Parker, sold the building in 1762 to Samuel Fraunces, who converted the home into a popular tavern, originally named for Queen Charlotte (Queen's Head Tavern).
Before the American Revolution, the building was one of the meeting places of the New York Liberty Boys/Sons of Liberty. During the tea crisis caused by the British Parliament's passage of the Tea Act 1773, the Patriots forced a British naval captain who tried to bring tea to New York to give a public apology at the building. The Patriots, disguised as American Indians (like those of the Boston Tea Party), then dumped the ship's tea cargo into New York Harbor, in the New York Tea Party.
In 1768, the New York Chamber of Commerce was founded at a meeting in the building. Saint George's Society, a benevolent society to support Englishmen in distress, was founded at Fraunces Tavern on Saint George's Day, April 23, 1770. On June 13, 1771, King George III of Great Britain granted a royal charter to establish "The Society of the New York Hospital in the City of New York in America" and a Board of Governors for the "reception of such patients as require medical treatment, chirurgical management and maniacs". The first regular meeting of the Board of Governors of what is now known as New York-Presbyterian Hospital was held at Fraunces Tavern on July 24, 1771.
American Revolution In August 1775, Americans, principally the "Hearts of Oak" – a student militia of King's College (now Columbia University), of which Alexander Hamilton was a member – took possession of cannons from the artillery battery at the southernmost point of Manhattan and fired on the British warship Asia. The British Royal Navy ship retaliated by firing a 32-gun broadside on the city, sending a cannonball through the roof of Fraunces Tavern.
Many Revolutionary luminaries met and dined at Fraunces Tavern. Paul Revere ate with John Lamb in 1774, as evidenced by a letter dated March 28, 1774, in which he asked John Lamb to convey his compliments to New York City Sons of Liberty with whom he had dined. When General Washington first arrived in New York City on April 13, 1776, he dined at Fraunces Tavern, knowing the tavern supported the patriot cause. In May and June 1776, General George Washington attended meetings and a banquet of the New York Provincial Congress.
In September 1780, Jane Tuers, a local farmer from across the Hudson River in Bergen Township, New Jersey (now Jersey City), stopped at the tavern while selling her goods and spoke with Samuel Fraunces. He informed Tuers that British soldiers had been in the tavern toasting American General Benedict Arnold, who was involved in a conspiracy to betray the Continental Army and deliver the fortress at West Point to the British. Tuers returned to Bergen later that day and informed her brother Daniel Van Reypen about the conspiracy. Van Reypen rode to Hackensack, New Jersey to report this information to General Anthony Wayne, who then sent Van Reypen to inform General Washington of the conspiracy. The information provided by Tuers confirmed what Washington had suspected of Arnold and led to the arrest, trial, conviction and hanging of co-conspirator John André for treason, which terminated the plot to surrender West Point. Arnold later defected to the British to escape prosecution.
The Birch Trials When the war was all but won, Fraunces Tavern was the site of "British-American Board of Inquiry" meetings, otherwise known as "The Birch Trials," which reviewed the legitimacy of claims of former slaves who fought with the British which would allow them to leave with the British, resulting in their freedom. Led by Brigadier General Samuel Birch, American and British representatives reviewed the evidence and testimonies given by Black Loyalists every Wednesday from May to August 1783. American and British representatives determined those black Loyalists who could retain their liberty and be evacuated with the "Redcoats" when they left. It was among the largest emancipations of enslaved Black people in the United States before the Civil War. It is reasonable to conclude that the materials gathered, and discussions had at Fraunces Tavern, were used to assemble the Book of Negroes.
Evacuation Day Banquet in New York On November 25, 1783, New York Governor George Clinton hosted a celebration at Fraunces Tavern in honor of General George Washington and his officers with over one hundred guests in attendance. A series of thirteen toasts were given to honor the United States of America, her allies, those who had given their life, and her armies.
Washington's farewell to his officers
On December 4, 1783, nine days after British troops had evacuated New York on November 25, 1783, the tavern hosted General George Washington and his officers, in the building's Long Room, where he bade farewell to his officers of the Continental Army by saying "[w]ith a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable." After his farewell, he took each one of his officers by the hand for a personal word. General Henry Knox, Thomas Paine, Baron von Steuben and Alexander McDougall were among those present at Washington's farewell dinner, and is described both in contemporaneous newspapers and later in the memoir of Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, who was also in attendance.
Post-Revolution In January 1785, New York City became the seat of the Confederation Congress, the nation's central government under the "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union." The departments of Foreign Affairs and War, and offices of the Board of Treasury, or Finance, had their offices at Fraunces Tavern from 1775-1788.
With the ratification of the United States Constitution in March 1789, the Confederation Congress's departments became federal departments, and New York City became the first official national capital. The inauguration of George Washington as first President of the United States took place in April 1789. Under the July 1789 Residence Act, Congress moved the national capital to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for a 10-year period while the permanent national capital was under construction in what is now Washington, D.C. The federal departments vacated their offices in the building and moved to Philadelphia in 1790.
19th and 20th centuries
Throughout the 1800s, 54 Pearl Street changed owners several times and was run predominantly as a boarding house with a bar on the first floor. The building, however, continued to be recognized as the Fraunces Tavern. Subsequent proprietors would affix signs to the masonry stating Fraunces Tavern. On July 4, 1804, under the management of David Ross, the Society of Cincinnati held a meeting at the tavern. Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton attended this meeting of the Society, to which they both belonged, which was held a week before their duel. The building was damaged, but not destroyed, by several fires beginning in 1832. In 1883, Sons of the Revolution was founded in the Long Room on the centenary of Washington's farewell speech.
Restoration In 1900, the tavern was slated for demolition by its owners. Members of the New York City Chapter and Mary Washington Colonial Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, worked to preserve it, and convinced New York state government leaders to use their power of eminent domain and designate the building as a park (which was the only clause of the municipal ordinances that could be used for protection, as laws were not in place at the time for the subject of "historic preservation," then in its infancy). The temporary designation was later rescinded when the property was acquired in 1904 by the Sons of the Revolution In the State of New York Inc., primarily with funds willed by Frederick Samuel Tallmadge, the grandson of Benjamin Tallmadge, George Washington's chief of intelligence during the Revolution (a plaque depicting Tallmadge is affixed to the building) and leader of the Culper Spy Ring.
An extensive and extremely sensitive restoration was completed in 1907 under the supervision of early historic preservation architect William Mersereau whose work can be seen in other notable buildings including Westover Historic District in Virginia. This architect preserved and stabilized the original architectural elements and materials of Fraunces Tavern from 1719. At the same time, he removed what had been added by subsequent building owners. This is evidenced by materials saved by Mersereau, including wood fragments, dust, and paint samples, as well as personal letters that outline his sensitive approach to the building's restoration. These items and letters are preserved in the Museum's archives.