Grayson's Tavern
Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Grayson's Tavern. Danville's first tavern, operated in this building before 1800 by Benjamin Grayson. Often within these walls the burning political issues of the day were discussed. The Danville Political Society, organized in 1786 and the first of its kind in the West, met and dined here at Grayson's Tavern to "plan the course of the empire" before blazing log fires.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
Before 1800, Benjamin Grayson kept Danville's first tavern in this building, where settlers gathered before roaring log fires to argue the burning political questions of the frontier. Here in 1786 met the Danville Political Society, the first organization of its kind in the West, whose members debated the future of the region as Kentucky moved toward statehood. Such taverns were the crucibles of early western self-government.
Why it matters
In taverns like Grayson's, frontier Kentuckians practiced the arts of debate and self-rule that would carry the territory into statehood in 1792.
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Related people
- · Benjamin Grayson
Related events
- · Danville Political Society
Themes & tags
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