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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260918T173000
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UID:10007599-1789752600-1789765200@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Raise a Pint to the Revolution Recreates the Night Westerly Chose the American Cause
DESCRIPTION:Raise a Pint to the Revolution will take Westerly back exactly 250 years on Friday\, September 18\, recreating a pivotal 1776 town meeting before shifting the celebration to Grey Sail Brewing for period music\, beer\, ale\, rum\, and a decidedly less serious round of Colonists-versus-Redcoats games. \nThis isn’t a generic Revolutionary War reenactment scheduled to coincide with America’s 250th anniversary. \nThe date is the point. \nOn September 18\, 1776\, Westerly men gathered and signed a declaration pledging allegiance to the newly independent American states. Contemporary town history records that 50 men enlisted in the Revolutionary forces after signing what was known as the Declaration or Test Act. \nOn September 18\, 2026\, Westerly will hold the meeting again. \nThe Evening Begins With the Meeting\, Not the Beer\nOrganizers are dividing the event into two parts: The Meeting and The Celebration. \nThe first is a period reenactment of the actual town event that took place 250 years earlier. \nActors portraying figures from Revolutionary-era Westerly will recreate the gathering and the decision facing local residents in 1776. \nVisitors won’t necessarily remain spectators. \nThe event invites modern-day “colonists” to sign their own allegiance to America before heading back for a pint. \nThe reenactment gives Raise a Pint to the Revolution something many semiquincentennial events can’t claim. \nWesterly isn’t simply commemorating something that happened somewhere in America during the Revolution. \nIt’s reenacting something that happened in Westerly\, on the same calendar date\, a quarter of a millennium later. \nWesterly Had Already Been Choosing Sides\nThe September 1776 gathering didn’t come out of nowhere. \nWesterly’s break with British policy had been developing for years. \nThe town’s own historical record notes that on February 2\, 1774\, local freemen met and adopted resolutions condemning oppressive measures imposed by Great Britain\, particularly the tax on tea. \nWesterly’s 1919 history even characterized the episode as the town’s own “tea party.” \nBy then\, resistance to British authority was spreading throughout Rhode Island. \nAnd Westerly had a particularly important connection to the emerging national movement through one of the most prominent political figures in colonial Rhode Island. \nSamuel Ward Took Westerly to the Continental Congress\nSamuel Ward was born in Newport but became closely identified with Westerly after settling there. \nHe served as governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and became an outspoken opponent of British taxation. \nIn 1774\, Rhode Island sent Ward and Stephen Hopkins to Philadelphia as delegates to the First Continental Congress. \nWard continued serving in the Continental Congress as the colonies moved toward independence. \nHe died in Philadelphia on March 25\, 1776\, only a few months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted. \nBut his family remained deeply connected to the war. \nHis son\, Samuel Ward Jr.\, served in the Continental Army\, becoming a captain in 1775 and major in 1776. He later served as an aide-de-camp to General George Washington and eventually became a lieutenant colonel. \nFor Westerly residents gathering in September 1776\, the Revolution wasn’t distant news arriving from Philadelphia. \nPeople from their own community were already part of it. \nSeptember 18\, 1776 Was a Dangerous Time to Pick a Side\nIt’s easy to look backward from 2026 and imagine American independence as inevitable. \nIt wasn’t. \nWhen Westerly’s men gathered on September 18\, the Declaration of Independence was barely two months old. \nAnd militarily\, things weren’t going particularly well. \nBritish forces had inflicted a major defeat on Washington’s army in the Battle of Long Island in late August. American forces withdrew from New York City in September\, and the British occupied the city. \nJust two days before Westerly’s meeting\, American and British troops had fought at Harlem Heights. \nWashington was still reporting on that engagement to the Continental Congress on September 18. \nSo the men gathering in Westerly weren’t signing onto a revolution whose outcome they knew. \nThey were choosing allegiance while the new nation was fighting for survival. \nThat makes the date considerably more interesting than simply saying Westerly supported independence. \nThey were committing themselves while the result was very much undecided. \nFifty Men Signed and Enlisted\nWesterly’s historical record describes what followed succinctly. \nOn September 18\, 1776\, 50 men enlisted in the Revolutionary forces after signing the Declaration or Test Act. \nThat was a significant commitment for a small colonial town. \nBy 1777\, Westerly’s population stood at only 1\,812 people. \nBy 1781\, the town had enrolled four companies of militia in addition to its quota serving in Continental battalions. \nA history prepared for Westerly’s 250th anniversary in 1919 estimated that the combined military commitment ultimately absorbed about one-fifth of the town’s population. \nThe Revolution was not an abstract political debate here. \nIt took people out of homes\, farms and businesses and put them into military service. \nRaise a Pint to the Revolution is built around the moment that commitment became formal. \nThen Comes the Party\nOnce Westerly has reenacted its revolutionary pledge\, the evening becomes considerably less solemn. \nThe celebration takes place at Grey Sail Brewing\, where organizers promise live period music\, beer\, ale and rum along with what they describe as “fuel for the Revolution.” \nThere will also be Colonist and Red Coat games. \nThe result should land somewhere between living history and a colonial tavern night. \nThat seems appropriate. \nTaverns were important gathering places in 18th-century America\, serving not merely as drinking establishments but as social centers where travelers exchanged news\, residents debated politics and communities conducted business. \nBeer\, ale\, cider\, punch and rum were thoroughly embedded in colonial social life. \nSo while nobody should mistake a modern craft brewery for an 18th-century tavern\, finishing a Revolutionary reenactment over a drink isn’t as historically incongruous as it might sound. \nRum Has a Particularly Good Claim to the Glass\nBeer gets top billing in the event’s title\, but rum may have the stronger Revolutionary-era New England credentials. \nThe triangular Atlantic trade made rum an important part of the colonial economy. \nNew England distilleries turned imported Caribbean molasses into enormous quantities of rum\, which became one of the region’s characteristic spirits. \nRhode Island was particularly involved in the colonial rum trade. \nThat history makes Grey Sail an unusually appropriate modern host. \nThe Westerly brewery shares its Canal Street property with South County Distillers\, giving the celebration access to both brewing and distilling traditions. \nThe drinks have changed considerably since 1776. \nThe idea of gathering together over them hasn’t. \nGrey Sail Has Its Own Westerly History\nGrey Sail Brewing is much younger than the event it is commemorating\, but its home has a history of its own. \nThe brewery opened in Westerly in 2011\, brewing its first batch of Flagship Ale on November 11 of that year. \nIts production facility occupies a brick industrial building at 63 Canal Street that was constructed near the end of the 1920s for the Westerly Macaroni Factory. \nThe building later served other commercial uses before Grey Sail transformed it into a brewery. \nNext door\, the Grey Sail Taproom and courtyard have developed into a gathering place for live music\, markets and community events. \nFor September 18\, the brewery becomes Westerly’s temporary Revolutionary tavern. \nThe Babcock-Smith House Connects the Celebration to 1776\nOne of the event sponsors is the Babcock-Smith House Museum\, and its connection to Revolutionary Westerly runs particularly deep. \nThe museum centers on the historic home of Dr. Joshua Babcock\, one of colonial Westerly’s most significant residents. \nThe Georgian house dates to around 1734\, putting it squarely within the world being recreated during Raise a Pint to the Revolution. \nBabcock was a physician\, public official and prominent citizen whose life stretched across Westerly’s transition from British colony to American town. \nHe was also Westerly’s first postmaster. \nThe town’s first post office was established in 1776\, the same year as the meeting being commemorated. \nIts first-year receipts totaled the wonderfully precise sum of one pound\, three shillings and eight pence. \nBefore that\, Westerly’s nearest post office had been in New London. \nToday the Babcock-Smith House preserves both that colonial history and another enormous chapter of Westerly’s story through its exhibits devoted to the local granite industry. \nThree Westerly Organizations Are Behind the Night\nRaise a Pint to the Revolution is sponsored by the Westerly 250th Commission\, Westerly Historical Society and Babcock-Smith House Museum. \nThat combination helps explain why the event goes beyond costumes and colonial-themed drinking. \nThe historical organizations have an actual local event to reconstruct. \nThe Westerly 250th effort\, meanwhile\, places it within the much larger America 250 commemoration marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. \nRhode Island is observing the anniversary through RI 250\, with events taking place throughout the state. \nBut September 18 gives Westerly something unusually specific to commemorate. \nExactly 250 years earlier\, townspeople were deciding what allegiance meant in a country that was only weeks old. \nYour $10 Ticket Buys More Than a Pint\nThe ticket covers participation in the commemorative event rather than functioning as a prepaid bar tab. Alcohol purchases should be expected to follow Grey Sail’s normal service rules\, including age and identification requirements. \nThe evening is scheduled from 5:30 to 9 p.m.\, with the recreated meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m. \nThat leaves time to arrive\, settle in and get oriented before Westerly turns the clock back to 1776. \nThe Best Part Is Knowing How the Story Ends\nThe people at the original meeting didn’t have that luxury. \nThey couldn’t know that Washington would survive 1776. \nThey couldn’t know about Saratoga. \nThey couldn’t know France would enter the war. \nThey couldn’t know Cornwallis would surrender at Yorktown. \nThey couldn’t know there would someday be a United States celebrating its 250th birthday. \nAnd they certainly couldn’t know that 250 years to the day after their meeting\, another group of Westerly residents would gather on Canal Street\, raise glasses and reenact their decision. \nWe know what happened next. \nFor one evening\, Westerly gets to return to the moment when they didn’t. \nDetails\nEvent: Raise a Pint to the Revolution\nDate: Friday\, September 18\, 2026\nTime: 5:30–9 p.m.\nReenacted Meeting: 6:30 p.m.\nLocation: Grey Sail Brewing\nAddress: 63 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI 02891\nOccasion: 250th anniversary of Westerly’s September 18\, 1776 Revolutionary-era meeting and pledge\nThe Meeting: Period reenactment of the historic Westerly town event with actors portraying Revolutionary-era figures\nAudience Participation: Guests will have an opportunity to sign an allegiance to America\nThe Celebration: Live period music\, beer\, ale\, rum and Colonist-versus-Redcoat games\nTickets: $10 base ticket price; online processing fees may apply\nFood & Drink: Available as part of the evening’s celebration; alcoholic beverages are subject to normal age and identification requirements\nSponsors: Westerly 250th Commission\, Westerly Historical Society and Babcock-Smith House Museum\nHistorical Date: September 18\, 1776\, exactly 250 years before the event\nHistorical Significance: Westerly history records that 50 men enlisted in the Revolutionary forces after signing the Declaration or Test Act on that date \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/raise-a-pint-to-the-revolution-recreates-the-night-westerly-chose-the-american-cause/
LOCATION:Grey Sail Brewing of Rhode Island\, 63 Canal St\, Westerly\, RI\, 02891\, United States
CATEGORIES:Grey Sail Brewing of Rhode Island
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