History with a side of whiskey? Yes, please.
Carpenters’ Hall recently debuted their after-hours scotch whiskey-tasting tours, which run every Tuesday and Thursday (4 to 5:30 p.m.) through May 29 at the historic venue. Tours feature access to the Hall’s rarely-seen second floor led by Executive Director Michael Norris.
These small and intimate experiences (attendance caps at 10 people) feature 90 minutes of plenty of scotch whiskey and plenty of tidbits on the 1770-built National Historic Landmark.
The tasting takes place in 19th-century library (and the space happens to be the very spot where Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Francis Daymon, and a French emissary secretly met to discuss French support for the Revolution. ) It boasts three rotating scotches and toasts to good health of the group. And why Scotch? As a release notes, it’s in honor of Robert Smith, the Hall’s architect and a colonial-era master builder, who hailed from Dalkeith, Scotland. The Hall often highlights Scottish tradition in recognition of Smith’s contributions.
Carpenters’ Hall itself is an artifact, with plenty of historical events and happenings engrained in the wall’s memories. For instance, Carpenters’ Hall was once home to Benjamin Franklin’s Library Company of Philadelphia, the American Philosophical Society and the First and Second Banks of the United States. However, the space might be most well known as the meeting place for events that took place from Sept. 5 to Oct. 26, 1774— otherwise known as the First Continental Congress.
Carpenters’ Hall, not surprisingly from its name, was built by The Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia, the oldest craft guild in America, in 1774. Since then, the building has been operational and still is used today by roughly 180 members consisting of architects, building contractors, and structural engineers.
Artifacts wise, the Hall also houses two original Windsor chairs, including one used by the president of the First Continental Congress, Peyton Randolph.
Before the British captured Philadelphia in 1777, it’s said that members moved the chairs to their homes for safekeeping and branded them with the words “Carpenters’ Co.” under the seat, and the Hall now holds a couple of those very items. Other artifacts found inside the site include gilded frame membership boards, a model of Carpenters’ Hall, paintings of George Washington and early Company member Matthew McGlathery, and officers’ furniture from 1890.
The space was also home to the first bank robbery in the United States. The robbery turned out to be an inside job, but before that was discovered, a man named Patrick Lyon was falsely accused of carrying out the deed. This all happened during the Yellow Fever epidemic, and to clear his name, Lyon had to break out of quarantine to travel to Philadelphia while the city was on lockdown.
Philadelphians can learn about it all and more while at the After-Hours Whiskey Tour at the Hall (320 Chestnut St.), which comes out to be $45 per person. Guests may book individual tickets or groups of up to 10 through Air BNB. More information can be found online at carpentershall.org
