Historical Importance… Contemporary Significance

For more than two and a half centuries, the Golden Ball Tavern has stood on the Boston Post Road in Weston, Massachusetts -its history and fortunes paralleling those of an emerging and developing nation.

The Tavern was built by Isaac Jones in the pivotal year of 1768, the year Samuel Adams of Massachusetts wrote his famous letter to the Colonial Legislatures opposing taxation without representation. Later that same year, British troops landed in Boston Harbor beginning a military occupation which ultimately led to the American Revolution.

Against this tumultuous backdrop, Isaac Jones established his fledgling Tavern along the heavily-travelled Boston Post Road mail route. Jones was a prominent and well-respected citizen until his loyalist political views led to him being labeled “an Enemy to his Country” by local committees putting his family, life and livelihood at risk.

Ultimately, Isaac Jones remained in Weston and survived the Revolution (unlike most Loyalists who were forced to flee to Canada or return to England). Remarkably, he went on to make significant and forward-thinking contributions to the new democracy including serving on the Weston Committee to the Massachusetts Assembly that deliberated the merits of the proposed Massachusetts Constitution of 1778 (the first in the nation and a model for the US Constitution). Isaac and the committee opposed it because it did not extend voting rights to all people, “…which we esteem to be an infringement upon the Rights of such Subjects.” The committee also objected “…because the said Constitution is not connected with a declaratory Bill of Rights, which we esteem to (be) the privilege of a free people,” {24 May 1778, Committee of Weston to Massachusetts Assembly, Weston Town Archives}.

Isaac Jones paved the way for six generations of his family to reside for nearly 200 years on the Golden Ball Tavern property. During its 250 years of existence, the GBT has been a home, a tavern, a hotel and a museum. History still lives and breathes here through documented stories of British Spies, the Weston Tea Party and the comings and goings of ordinary people, as well as historic figures such as Paul Revere. We hope you will come visit to learn more about the history that was made here, as well as the significance it holds for us today.

The History of the Golden Ball Tavern

The Golden Ball Tavern’s stories center around a colonial tavern, a gracious home, and the six generations of the family that lived in it. It is a detective story, filled with clues about the changes that were made to this house over time and the lives of those who inhabited it.

It is also a story about the emergence of a new nation and how some individuals in colonial Boston felt differently about the possibility of choosing Revolution and going to war with Great Britain – these Loyalists included Isaac Jones of Weston.

For over two hundred years, the Golden Ball Tavern has stood on the "great country road" in Weston, Massachusetts, weathering changes of fortune and time. And yet, it is today as alive and vibrant as ever in its past, for the house has a story to tell.

The Golden Ball Tavern was one of several taverns on Weston's well-traveled Post Road. Not simply a place for food and drink, eighteenth century taverns served as a location for travelers to exchange news, gossip and mail. Taverns also functioned as important community centers, where militiamen met after drills, churchgoers gathered between services, and political meetings were held. Among the most popular drinks served to tavern patrons in Isaac's day were rum, beer and cider. But the beverage that would become most significant at the Golden Ball Tavern was tea.

Tea drinking was an important social custom in eighteenth century Britain—a custom which, along with the tea itself, was imported to the American colonies. But by 1773, more than tea was brewing in colonial Massachusetts. Many colonists rebelled against British laws that restricted American merchants from trading in tea, and the drink became a symbol of British tyranny.

Yet, even after American patriots issued a boycott of the once popular beverage and had brazenly dumped it into Boston Harbor, tea was still served at the Sign of the Golden Ball. Isaac Jones it seems, was a Tory.

A deeply patriotic British subject, Isaac had even named his second son William Pitt Jones, after the British statesman who had championed the cause of the colonies. Living in a fairly conservative town, Isaac may have misjudged the patriotic outrage he aroused by continuing to serve Dutch tea. Isaac issued an apology after being accused as a traitor in the Massachusetts Spy in 1774, but it was not enough to stop the uprising that came to be known as "The Weston Tea Party." In March of 1774, Isaac's house was raided by patriots with painted faces. Isaac was away, having gone to Uxbridge, but the patriots broke down doors, and stole liquor, raisins and lemons.

Even though patriot committees urged in January, 1775, that Isaac's tavern should be closed, the Golden Ball Tavern remained open, a mark of respect for Isaac's position in the community. And yet, less than one month later, he entertained two British spies, sent by General Gage in Boston, who were looking for the safest route to Worcester to capture patriot stores of ammunition. The spies were more than pleased with their reception.

When they chanced on Isaac's tavern, he offered them tea or coffee. The spies, recalling the event said, "...We immediately found out with whom we were and were not a little pleased to find, on some conversation that he was a friend to " government " – indicating that Isaac's loyalties were still with the British. But his loyalties were to change. Within two years he must have signed an oath of loyalty, for by January 1777, he was working for the Revolutionary Army, hauling supplies to the French in New York. The house holds fascinating clues to the factors which caused Isaac to change his loyalties.

After the war, Isaac once again became a prominent and prosperous citizen of Weston. He continued running his tavern until 1793 when the house became a private residence. In 1803, in keeping with a common practice of the day, Isaac deeded one-half of his property to his oldest surviving son, William Pitt Jones. William and his family shared the house with his father until Isaac's death in 1813, and then with his widowed mother. Of William's nine living children, two of his sons moved westward, and a grandson died in the Civil War. But the house would remain in the family for four more generations, until the death of Ralph Frost Jones in 1963. In 1964, the house was set up as a Trust and became a museum.