The Waterman Tavern is a historic house and tavern at 283 Maple Valley Road, near

Whaley's Hollow Whaley's Hollow (also known as Pottersville and Maple Valley) is a village in Coventry, Rhode Island. Thomas Whaley was an early settler in the area who operated a saw mill and whose home still stands today on Maple Valley Road. John Waterman bui ...

Coventry, Rhode Island Coventry is a town in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 35,688 at the 2020 census and is part of the . Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of . of it is land and of it ...

. The -story wood-frame house was built before 1747 by John Waterman, who was licensed to operate a tavern on the premises in that year. It is five bays wide with a central chimney. The site was advantageously located on what was then the main road between

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

and

Plainfield, Connecticut Plainfield is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 14,973 at the 2020 census. The town comprises four villages: Plainfield (south, ZIP code 06374), Moosup (northeast, 06354), Wauregan (northwest, 06387), an ...

. The tavern was a center of civic discourse, and town meetings were regularly held there until 1835. The tavern was one of the first stops along the

route Route or routes may refer to: * Route (gridiron football), a path run by a wide receiver * route (command), a program used to configure the routing table * Route, County Antrim, an area in Northern Ireland * ''The Route'', a 2013 Ugandan film * Ro ...

taken by Count de Rochambeau's army during its 1781 march from Providence to

Yorktown, Virginia Yorktown is a census-designated place (CDP) in York County, Virginia. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1682. Yorktown's population was 195 as of the 2010 census, while York Cou ...

, during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. The main army camped near the tavern, while the officers were quartered in the tavern itself. The building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1974.

References

Waterman Tavern- Historical Marker database - HMbb
Commercial buildings completed in 1744 Taverns in Rhode Island Drinking establishments on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island Historic places on the Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Buildings and structures in Coventry, Rhode Island National Register of Historic Places in Kent County, Rhode Island 1744 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies {{KentCountyRI-NRHP-stub

See also

References