Taverns

Taverns, or public houses (in England and Australia, pubs) serving food, beer and rum, performed a major social and communications role in many countries.

Colonial America

Taverns were essential for colonial Americans, especially in the South where towns hardly existed. In the taverns the colonists learned current crop prices, arranged trades, heard newspapers read aloud, and discovered business opportunities. For most rural Americans the tavern was the chief link to the greater world, playing a role much like the city marketplace in Europe and Latin America.

Further reading

American

• Conroy, David W. In Public Houses: Drink and the Revolution of Authority in Colonial Massachusetts (1995)
• Thompson, Peter. Rum Punch and Revolution: Taverngoing and Public Life in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia (1999)
• Rice, Kim. Early American Taverns: For the Entertainment of Friends and Strangers (1983),
• Salinger, Sharon V. Taverns and Drinking in Early America (2002)