A pirate’s tavern still pouring after three and a half centuries
Built in 1652 as a two-room house for Francis Brinley, turned into a tavern by William Mayes in 1673, and serving ever since; it calls itself the oldest operating restaurant in the United States. For close to a century the colony’s General Assembly, its criminal court and the city council met here. In 1702 the licence to sell all sorts of strong drink passed to his son William, a pirate home from the Red Sea with his takings, whom the townspeople openly welcomed and protected, to the deep embarrassment of the British colony’s officials. A National Historic Landmark, and still pouring. PUBLIC, Newport.
Other places on the map within a couple of hours.
