According to legend, the sign that once graced the General Wolfe Tavern in Brooklyn, Connecticut (originally owned by Israel Putnam), was shot at by disgruntled patriots during the Revolution because it depicted a British redcoat officer. Rachel Beauchemin, museum educator at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History (CMCH), will share fascinating tales of tavern life during,“ Tapping Into the Past: Tavern Life in Early Connecticut,” at the Pardee-Morris House on Sunday, July 26, 2026, at 2 p.m. For weather updates check our Facebook/Instagram pages or visit www.newhavenmuseum.org.

In the 1600s every Connecticut town was required to have a tavern (known in that period as an “ordinary”) in order to facilitate travel. Beauchemin will show examples from the impressive early-Connecticut tavern-sign collection at CMCH, including the sign for Phelps’ Inn in North Colebrook, which features a docile-seeming lion on one side and a fierce eagle on the other, a commonly used image meant to invoke the power of the young United States against the weak Great Britain.

Beauchemin will demonstrate how taverns in early Connecticut were much more than just a place to drink. Beauchemin explains, “Travelers and locals alike saw taverns as a place to be entertained, spread news and gossip, have a good meal, and get a night’s lodging.”

Taverns were also centers for entertainment, politics, and business. Beauchemin notes that the Aetna Fire Insurance Company was founded in 1819 at a coffee house in Hartford. Traveling troupes of actors or acrobats might perform in a tavern, local government might even hold court.