Explore the Historic Taverns of Rhode Island with author Robert Geake at PPL Thursday, June 21

Providence Public Library welcomes Rhode Island author Robert Geake for this talk and book signing for his new book: Historic Taverns of Rhode Island on Thursday, June 21 from 7:00 – 8:15 pm, 150 Empire Street, Providence (Third Floor Meeting Room). The program is free and open to the public. Book sales and signing to follow.

Rhode Island, like many other New England colonies, decided that a central meetinghouse was necessary to conduct public business in the self-governing New World. These public houses had many functions, including the setting of council meetings and trials, a place for strangers to congregate and a venue for entertainment in the form of beer and strong spirits.

Join author Robert Geake for a virtual tour of the taverns of Rhode Island, from one of the oldest sites in RI, the Mowry Tavern, most remembered for a sinister crime committed just feet from its door to the White Horse Tavern of Newport and the Sabin Tavern, associated with the burning of the Gaspee. Historian Robert A. Geake chronicles the lore confined within the walls of the Ocean State's most historic taverns.

About the author: Robert A. Geake is a local historian and author whose previous books include A History of the Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island: Keepers of the Bay, from The History Press, and A Toll, a Tavern and a Farm, printed for the Pawtucket Preservation Society.

Mr. Geake is an associate of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University and a member of the Rhode Island Historical Society. He has lived for nearly 30 years in the farmhouse that James Pidge built in 1860, just above his tavern on the Post Road. Mr. Geake is the home-brewer of “Old Pidge Ales.”

Discount parking is available at the Providence Hilton Garage, $3 for 3 hours. Bring your ticket with you for validation at the Circulation Desk.