Gaspee Days Committee History Files
The History of the Sabin Tavern
by Dr. John Concannon
Webmaster, Gaspee Virtual Archives

The Sabin Tavern, built in 1763, was a popularly hostelry owing to the fact that is was located directly opposite the Fenner's Wharf, from which a packet ship plied the waters between Providence and Newport on a daily basis. It was in the South-East room of this tavern on the evening of June 9, 1772, Rhode Island patriots met and made plans to burn the British revenue schooner H.M.S. Gaspee. The patriots even cast their bullets in the tavern. It was from across the Main Street at Fenner's Wharf that the brave men from Providence departed in their longboats to attack the Gaspee.

The site of the Sabin Tavern was originally part of the 1640 grant to William Burrows. According to An Address by Edward Field entitled "A Night at Sabin's Tavern", Sabin's tavern was the former home of Captain Woodbury Morris, mariner, he having purchased the estate, 13 Jun 1757, and built the house soon after. Seven years later Captain Morris, while on a voyage to sea, died on the coast of Africa. On the second day of December, 1765, Mary Morris, the captain's widow, wrote in a little memorandum book, wherein her husband had formerly kept his accounts, and which she had continued to use: "Then Mr. Sabin moved into my house." From this time until December, 1773, James Sabin lived here, and catered to the wants of man and beast, but on this date he purchased a tract of land on the west side of the river, near the Great Bridge, about where the Merchants Bank Building now stands, and left the tavern.

The house was then purchased by Welcome Arnold, a distinguished merchant of Providence, who made many additions to the structure, and occupied it as his residence until his death in 1798. It remained in the Arnold family for more than a hundred years, finally coming into possession of Samuel G. Arnold, the historian. During his occupancy of the house, the room wherein the 'Gaspee' party met was used as a dining room, and there, on the wall, hung, for many years, an account of the affair, prepared by Colonel Ephraim Bowen, the last survivor of the party, and engrossed by the hand of his daughter. The old house was demolished some years ago.

Shortly after the attack, Ephraim Bowen <see http://gaspee.org/Bowen.html> confirms that the Inn was sold in 1785 to Welcome Arnold, whose first house still stands further up on Planet Street, and lived in it until his death in 1798.  Welcome Arnold then passed the ex-tavern onto his eldest son, Samuel Greene Arnold, who then passed it on to Samuel's younger brother Colonel Richard James Arnold, for which it was used as his personal residence in the 1830s. Over time the riverfront was filled in and what is now Water Street was created, in effect moving South Main Street one block further away from the Woonasquatucket River that was central to the town.  Fenner's Wharf most likely lied below what is now The Packet Building at 155 South Main Street. In 1772 there was probably one Main Street which only later was differentiated into North and South Main Street based on their directions from the city center at Market House. The Sabin Tavern lot adjoined that of the Abial Brown House on Planet Street.

Left: Sabin Tavern. The South-East Room where the Gaspee Raiders met can be seen behind the tree on the right side of the picture.  Providence Public Library Collection wc 688.1  Right: Colorized postcard of Sabin Tavern photo. Providence Public Library collection pc7142. 
Pictures taken of the of what is purported to be the Sabin Tavern show a Victorian style mansion that had probably been extensively renovated since the times of the Revolution. (It is also possible that these pictures are actually those of the Gaspee House with the preservation of the Sabin Tavern only being that of the South-East room still attached at the rear.) When the "Sabin Tavern" was demolished in 1891, the South-East part of the old tavern was detached, moved, and reattached to the Mary Arnold Talbot house at 209 Williams Street in Providence and served as headquarters for the Gaspee Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. Around 1980 the DAR's membership had dropped and the building was given to the Rhode Island Historical Society. The Society sold the building in 1983 and it is now used as an apartment house.
Left: The Gaspee House incorporated the original room from the old Sabin Tavern as an attachment, seen on the left. - Providence Public Library Collection pc 7180 Right: The Gaspee Room (2001) as currently located at 209 Williams Street is now a condominium.
Left: Rear and side view of the Gaspee Room, 209 Williams Street. This is the original room of the Sabin Tavern in which patriots plotted the destruction of the Gaspee in 1772 Right:  Old photograph of the interior of the Gaspee Room, now part of the Mary Arnold Talbot house - Providence Public Library Collection gc 2653
At the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 which took place in Chicago, the Rhode Island exhibition displayed the fireplace and marble mantel, taken from the old Sabin Tavern.  Its current whereabouts are uncertain, but may still exist in the Gaspee Room. Ref: <http://columbus.iit.edu/dreamcity/00044061.html>
Left: Commemorative plaque on outside of the Gaspee Room, 209 Williams Street, Providence.

Text Reads:

THIS HOUSE CONTAINS THE
HISTORIC GASPEE ROOM
TAKEN FROM THE GASPEE HOUSE
SOUTH MAIN STREET IN 1891 AND
MOVED TO THIS LOCATION

IT WAS IN THIS ROOM ON JUNE 9, 1772
THAT THE PLOT WAS FORMED
TO DESTROY THE BRITISH NAVAL
SCHOONER GASPEE

OWNED AND PRESERVED BY GASPEE CHAPTER

DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
In 1961, the Gaspee House, a large old structure that had been built  c1891 on the site of the original tavern at the South Main Street and Planets Street was being demolished when the wreckers discovered parts of the old Sabin Tavern.  A Warwick resident salvaged the original door and gave it to the Gaspee Day Committee c1970. The Rhode Island Historical Society stored the door for many years before it was loaned to the Warwick Museum. In 1988, the Gaspee Day Committee voted to let the Pawtuxet Rangers keep the old door in their headquarters, the old Masonic Hall at the corner of Remington and Bank Streets, Warwick.
Left:  Sabin Tavern Door installed into wall of the Pawtuxet Rangers Armory.  Right:  Commemorative plaque.
The old Gaspee Building (c1891-1961) that had built over the Sabin Tavern site at 182-198 South Main Street, and of which we have no pictures, apparently had a slate historical marker attached to an outside wall.  This plaque was saved during demolition of the building, and was in a Warwick location for a time, exposed to the elements in someone's backyard. It has since been possessed by a man who proudly displays the slate plaque attached to his living room wall in his home Pawtuxet Village.
SONS OF LIBERTY
------------------------
UPON THIS CORNER
STOOD THE SABIN TAVERN
IN WHICH ON THE EVENING OF
JUNE 9TH 1772
THE PARTY MET AND
ORGANIZED TO DESTROY
H.R.M SCHOONER GASPEE
IN THE DESTRUCTION OF
WHICH WAS SHED THE
FIRST BLOOD
IN THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Left: Slate memorial tablet from the site, but currently installed in a private Pawtuxet home. Right: Wording of plaque as displayed on left.
Left: Present, vandalized marker for the Sabin Tavern site Right: Present (2001) Sabin Tavern memorial granite marker in parking lot of Partridge, Snow, & Hahn law firm at 180 South Main Street.
The present marker at the site of the Sabin Tavern now looks forlorn, college students allegedly having removed the commemorative brass plaque to their dorm room.  Efforts are underway to fund having the granite marker engraved in a restoration.
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Originally uploaded in 1998 as SabinTavernDoor.htm    Last Revised 7/2003    SabinTavern.htm