Rum-fueled Revolution

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While the (original) tea party was brewing, another beverage was fueling the American Revolution in 1775. XXXX Old Medford Rum was distilled in the shipbuilding city of the same name on the Mystic River, a few miles north of Boston Massachusetts. The Hall family operated this famous distillery for three generations. Other brands of rum were made in Medford at the time, including Bishop distillery and the Blanchard distillery. (( Peter’s Rum Labels ))

The Benjamin Hall Jr. House was built with a grand staircase, and a mirror image… Photographs and drawings in the collection show all the intricate details of the carved wood balusters.

Beverages that changed history!

Actor Jack Black would be ideal as Paul Revere
The history of America is all about the history of tea and rum. While Medford and other New England towns were part of the notorious “triangle-trade” of slaves, molasses and rum, Medford was also home to 15 free blacks in the census of 1754. (( Slavery in Medford )) Paul Revere is celebrated each year on Patriot’s Day in Medford to honor his fabled horse ride (actual quote: “The Regulars are coming out“). Paul stopped in Medford to get a quick shot of rum, and a conversation with one of the Hall brothers to enlist a militia, before continuing his journey to Lexington. Read more about homes of the Hall family in Medford and the role of this fine beverage in  forming the new country in Colonial times.

“Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year
~ Henry Longfellow ”