|
|
|
|
Press ReleasesRelease: For Immediate Use From: Friends of Prowse Farm Contributions SOUGHT to Return COLONIAL ERA DOTY TAVERN SIGN TO PROWSE FARM IN CANTON AFTER 120 YEARS
Purchased with a line-of -credit for $28,440.00, the all-volunteer Friends of Prowse Farm secured the original tavern sign at the Skinner Auction in Boston on Sunday, February 17, 2008. The group, which campaigned in the 1970’s and 1980’s against industrial encroachment by Motorola/Codex on Prowse Farm (which encompasses the original Doty Tavern site), had been trying to locate the sign for 27 years. “We learned it was in an antique gallery on Newbury Street in Boston decades ago while we were fighting to save the farm,” said Harvey Robbins, president of Friends of Prowse Farm. “The gallery had closed and we were unsuccessful in relocating the sign once we accomplished our preservation mission and established a museum on the property.”
The Marquis de Lafayette, on his first visit to Boston, stayed at the tavern, and rumor has it that George Washington also slept there. The tavern burned on December 20, 1888. Meditech now owns the land and established cooperative relationship with The Friends of Prowse Farm, enabling them to administer the 44 acres designated as “farm” and establish a museum honoring the history of the land, to include Doty Tavern. The organization also completed an archaelogical dig confirming the exact location of Doty Tavern. “Now we have the original sign,” said Leo Waters, Vice President of The Friends of Prowse Farm, who accompanied Robbins to purchase the sign at the Skinner auction. “It has come full circle. Now we just have to raise the money to complete the mission.” The group is accepting tax deductible donations by calling Harvey Robbins at 978-256-6472 or by mail to The Friends of Prowse Farm at 5 Blue Hill River Road, Canton, MA 02021. |
|
Home | History | Property Rental | Calendar of Events |
Two hundred thirty four years after the colonists convened at Doty Tavern at the foot of Great Blue Hill to draft the pre-cursor of the Declaration of Independence, known as the Suffolk Resolves, the historic tavern sign is returning to its place of origin. Doty Tavern burned in 1888 and the sign has been in other hands for 120 years and off the radar screen for the last 27 years.
The colonists selected Doty Tavern for their historic meeting to draft the Suffolk Resolves on August 16, 1774 because the tavern was hidden from British oversight by the towering Great Blue Hill. The meeting was presided over by Dr. Joseph Warren who would die from a single gun shot wound to the head at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The Resolves, which in essence contained a declaration of war against Great Britain, were subsequently signed in Milton and carried on horseback by Paul Revere on a 6-day journey to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. The Resolves were adopted in a single day (September 17, 1774) by the Continental Congress, at which time, John Adams rejoiced, “The colonies will stand by Massachusetts or perish with her.”