On the corner of Farewell and Marlborough streets, the White Horse Tavern waits for you. The building here was constructed before 1673, and is believed to be the oldest tavern building in the United States. Its story begins in 1652, when English immigrant Francis Brindley put up the original house on land he had obtained from his brother-in-law William Coddington. In 1673 Brindley sold the lot to William Mayes, who enlarged the structure and turned it into a public tavern. Mayes secured a tavern license in 1687; his son William Mayes Jr. operated the house through the early eighteenth century. The name you know now — The White Horse Tavern — was given in 1730 by owner Jonathan Nichols.
This place served more than drinks: it hosted large meetings, even serving as a Rhode Island General Assembly meeting place, as a courthouse, and as a city hall. During the British occupation of Newport, around the time of the Battle of Rhode Island, Loyalists and British troops were quartered here. There is also a long-told rumor that Benjamin Franklin patronized the tavern while visiting his brother James, who ran a printing press in town. Picture the corner of Farewell and Marlborough streets stretching before you.