Boston’s Green Dragon Tavern Holds History with American Revolution Resistance
Boston’s Green Dragon Tavern may be a local watering hole in the city, but its connection to events that shaped the fate of a nation goes beyond beers alone.
The pub is where American patriots held meetings that led them to learn about rumors that the British were plotting to kidnap John Hancock and Samuel Adams in Lexington and then seize munitions in Concord in early 1775.
This intelligence prompted Paul Revere to execute his famous “Midnight Ride,” leading to the battles of Lexington and Concord and, ultimately, the start of the Revolutionary War.
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026, history now casts a spotlight on the people and places behind these events.
Today, Noelle Somers, the COO of Somers Pubs, which owns the Green Dragon, has strived to preserve the history and heritage of this celebrated Boston tavern. The current version of the Green Dragon isn’t the original one that opened in the mid-17th century. That building was nearby and was destroyed during the 1800s. The contemporary version opened in 1993.
“If my dad hadn’t recreated [it], the Green Dragon wouldn’t have been a part of coming back to the history of the Freedom Trail,” she said in an interview with GBH Boston. “And it was such an important part of the American Revolution: It’s where they all met, the Sons of Liberty met.”
Today, 250 years after the start of the American Revolution, the Green Dragon aims to be at the center of a distinctly American moment in the country’s evolving history. The activity around the anniversary couldn’t have come at a more critical time for businesses like the Green Dragon and others along Boston’s Freedom Trail. Many are still trying to recover from the effects of business closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.