The White Horse Tavern was constructed before 1673 and is believed to be the oldest

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern t ...

building in the United States."The Architectural Heritage of Newport, Rhode Island" - Page 433 by Antoinette Forrester Downing, Vincent Joseph Scully - 1967 It is located on the corner of Farewell and Marlborough streets in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

History

Francis Brinley, an English immigrant, constructed the original building on the site in 1652 on land obtained from his brother in law,

William Coddington William Coddington (c. 1601 – 1 November 1678) was an early magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and later of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He served as the judge of Portsmouth and Newport, governor of Portsmouth ...

. In 1673, he sold the lot to William Mayes who enlarged the building to become a tavern. The building was also used for large meetings, including use as a

Rhode Island General Assembly The State of Rhode Island General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. A bicameral body, it is composed of the lower Rhode Island House of Representatives with 75 representatives, and the upper Rhode Island Se ...

meeting place, a court house, and a city hall. William Mayes obtained a tavern license in 1687, and his son William Mayes, Jr. operated it through the early eighteenth century. The operation was named "The White Horse Tavern" in 1730 by owner Jonathan Nichols. Tories and British troops were quartered there during the British occupation of Newport in the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, around the time of the Battle of Rhode Island. Newport's Van Bueren family donated money to the private Preservation Society of Newport to restore the building in 1952, after years of neglect as a boarding house. After the restoration, the building was sold and once again operated as a private tavern and restaurant, and it remains a popular drinking and dining location today.

References

{{Restaurants in Rhode Island Government of Rhode Island

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

Landmarks in Rhode Island Buildings and structures in Newport, Rhode Island Taverns in Rhode Island Taverns in the American Revolution Residential buildings in Rhode Island Restaurants in Rhode Island Government buildings in Rhode Island Drinking establishments on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island National Register of Historic Places in Newport, Rhode Island Historic district contributing properties in Rhode Island

History

See also

References