136 Ohio Arch. and
Hist. Society Publications.
THE BUNCH OF GRAPES TAVERN.
In "Old Boston Taverns" -a
rare little pamphlet published in
Boston in 1886 and written by Samuel
Adams Drake--is an entertain-
ing little chapter on the "Bunch of
Grapes Tavern," the inn that figured
so historically in the early stages of
the organization of the Ohio Com-
pany of Associates. The tavern stood in
King Street, now State Street,
at the upper corner of Kilby Street. It
was not far from the site of
the Boston Massacre and in the engraving
of that bloody scene by Paul
Revere the balcony over the entrance to
the tavern is shown on the
extreme left, while the town hall is in
the background. Mr. Drake
states that "three gilded clusters
of grapes temptingly dangled over the
door before the eye of the
passer-by." These bunches of grapes were
of course large wooden imitations of the
real clusters. He also adds
that "apart from its
palate-tickling suggestions, the pleasant aroma of
antiquity surrounds this symbol, so dear
to all devotees of Bacchus
from immemorial time." Shakespeare
in "Measure for Measure" has
his clown say, "'Twas in the Bunch
of Grapes, where indeed you have
a delight to sit, have you not?"
And Froth answers, "I have so, be-
cause it is an open room and good for
winter." The Boston tavern
thus named dates back to 1712, from
which time until the Revolution
it was a public inn and as such
feelingly referred to by various travelers
as the best "punch-house" to
be found in all Boston.
When the line came to be drawn between
conditional loyalty and
loyalty at any rate the Bunch of Grapes
Tavern became the resort and
headquarters of the high Whigs in which
patriotism only passed current
and the Royalists found cold reception.
It was in this tavern, states
Drake, "on Monday, July 30, 1733,
that the first grand lodge of Masons
in America was organized by Henry Price,
a Boston tailor, who had received
authority from Lord Montague, Grand
Master of England, for the
purpose." Upon the evacuation of
Boston by the Royal troops and the
entrance of the Colonists, General
Washington was handsomely enter-
tained at this tavern and later after
reading the Declaration of Inde-
pendence from the balcony of the town
hall, the populace proceeded to
pull down from the public buildings the
Royal arms which had dis-
tinguished them and gathered them in a
heap in front of the Bunch
of Grapes Tavern, made a bonfire
thereof. The register of the Bunch
of Grapes Tavern, if it had kept one,
would show an illustrious list
of guests, such as General Stark,
Lafayette, and many of the Revolu-
tionary leaders and heroes, but probably what most
distinguishes it is
the fact that there were held in this
tavern the initial meetings of the
officers and directors of the Ohio
Company, their first gathering being
held there March 1, 1786.
In the summer just passed (1910) the
Editor during a visit to
Boston endeavored to find the location
of the Bunch of Grapes Tavern.
The site was easily discovered, but alas
the surroundings were com-
pletely changed, and where the original
tavern once stood is now a sky-
scraper business block, in the basement
of which, under the very corner
where stood the old tavern, is a little
restaurant, perhaps twenty feet
square, with a lunch-counter at the end,
over which was arched the
imitation of a large grapevine, from
which hung many clusters of
ingeniously similated grapes.