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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. 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, while 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 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.
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 City Sons of Liberty. During the tea crisis caused by the British Parliament's passage of the Tea Act, 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 1768, the New York Chamber of Commerce was founded by 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, 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 NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital was held at Fraunces Tavern on July 24, 1771.
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 Public inquiry" meetings, which negotiated to ensure American leaders that no "American property" (meaning former slaves who were emancipated by the British for their military service) be allowed to leave with British troops. Led by Brigadier General Samuel Birch, board members reviewed the evidence and testimonies given by every Wednesday from April to November 1783, and British representatives were successful in ensuring that almost all of the Loyalist black people of New York maintained their liberty and could be evacuated with the "Redcoats" when they left if so desired. Through this process, Birch created the Book of Negroes.
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.
Historian Randall Gabrielan wrote in 2000 that "Mersereau claimed his remodeling of Fraunces Tavern was faithful to the original, but the design was controversial in his time. There was no argument over removing the upper stories, which were known to have been added during the building's 19th-century commercial use, but adding the Hip roof was questioned. He used the Philipse Manor House in Yonkers, New York as a style guide and claimed to follow the roof line of the original, as found during construction, traced on the bricks of an adjoining building." Architects Norval White and Elliot Willensky wrote in 2000 that the building was "a highly conjectural reconstruction – not a restoration – based on 'typical' buildings of 'the period,' parts of remaining walls, and a lot of guesswork." Daniela Salazar at the website Untapped New York agrees, stating that the "reconstruction was extremely speculative, and resulted in an almost entirely new construction".
The building was declared a landmark in 1965 by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the surrounding city block bounded by Pearl Street, Water Street, Broad Street and Coenties Slip was included on November 14, 1978. The National Park Service added the surrounding city block to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on April 28, 1977, and the building was added to the NRHP on March 6, 2008.
In a note police found in a phone booth nearby, the FALN wrote, "we … take full responsibility for the especially detornated (sic) bomb that exploded today at Fraunces Tavern, with reactionary corporate executives inside." The note claimed the bomb – roughly 10 pounds of dynamite that had been crammed into an attaché case and slipped into the tavern's entrance hallway – was retaliation for the "CIA ordered bomb" that killed three and injured 11 in a restaurant in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, two weeks earlier. Fraunces Tavern bombing, cronkite.asu.edu. Accessed November 10, 2022.
Fraunces Tavern Museum’s mission is to preserve and interpret the history of the American Revolutionary era through public education. This mission is fulfilled through the interpretation and preservation of the Museum's collections, landmarked buildings, and varied public programs that serve the community. Visitors can explore galleries and exhibitions focusing on America’s War for Independence and the preservation of early American history The Museum’s 8,000-piece object collection consists of furnishings, communications, documents, personal artifacts, and art. While a fraction of the collection is on display at any given time, a significant portion of the collection is available to view on the Museum’s website.
The museum's permanent collection includes artifacts from the time of the American Revolution, such as artwork and letters. Other permanent exhibitions include The Long Room, as well as a replica of a lodging room and dining room from Fraunces Tavern's time as a boarding house. Special exhibitions include: Path to Liberty: The Emergence of a Nation, Path to Liberty: The War Reimagined, Path to Liberty: Orders, Discipline and Daily Life.
Public education and programming are essential to the Museum’s mission. The Museum has a robust lineup of speakers, walking tours, music programs, and more. Programs engage the community on everything Revolutionary, with special programming celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States. The School Program brings thousands of students in the Museum for lessons and activities that bring the American Revolution to life. Additional educational resources available online support educators and are designed in line with the New York State Standards for 4th grade Social Studies.
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