Calendar of Events
Tavern Culture Series: Western Expansion in the Early Republic
November 8, 2026 · 2 p.m.
Garden House
$20; $12/members
Like History on Tap? You'll love our 2026 series, Tavern Culture: One Sip at a Time. Inspired by our popular History on Tap annual event, these programs recreate historic tavern culture through a combination of lively programming, food and drink tastings, and music. Gather with family and friends to eat, drink, and be merry at the museum!
Join us for the final program of the year on Sunday, November 8, when KTM&HC Chief Curator Catherine Prescott will be joined by Dr. Kirsten Wood, author and professor at Florida International University.
As Americans surged westward and built their new republic in the early nineteenth century, entrepreneurial, improvement-minded men went to taverns to raise capital, promote innovative businesses, practice genteel sociability, and rally support for favored causes—often while drinking staggering amounts of alcohol. White men’s unrivaled freedom to use taverns in their pursuits of happiness helped flesh out the evolving meaning of citizenship in the young United States. Yet white men did not have taverns to themselves. Sharing tavern spaces with other Americans intensified white men’s struggles to define what, and for whom, taverns—and the nation—should be.
Registrants will enjoy historically inspired food and beverage samples - details coming soon.
Doors open at 1:30pm for light refreshments; program runs from 2-3pm. Register today!
Kirsten E. Wood is a specialist in the social and political histories of the early United States. In addition to exploring taverns, she has written about Peggy Eaton and Andrew Jackson’s presidential sex scandal, enslaving widows’ social and economic power, the harmonic ideal in patriotic music, and the opportunities for joy and pleasure in the young nation's public places. She is a professor of history at Florida International University and earned her PhD and MA from the University of Pennsylvania and her BA from Princeton University.
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