The Marquis de Lafayette, Seth Davis, and Father Grafton

From left: The Marquis de Lafayette, Father Joseph Grafton and Seth Davis.

The 50th Anniversary of the American Revolution 1824-1825

Newton’s Washington Street has been in the local news lately with much public opinion and comment. However, in October 1824 it had a memorable and celebrated moment when the Marquis de Lafayette, the last surviving general of the American Revolution, and his son Georges Washington de Lafayette stopped at Phineas Bond’s taproom in West Newton on Washington Street, (what was previously called the Natick Turnpike).

The taproom had been in existence since about 1760 according to the Newton Graphic. Seth Davis’s students from Davis Academy in West Newton lined Washington St to greet Lafayette. Lafayette shook hands with many of them. Lafayette continued on to Boston at the invitation of President Monroe to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the American Revolution.

Father Joseph Grafton also met Lafayette in Boston. The meeting is memorialized in the poem “Father Grafton’s Eyes”. Lafayette participated in the laying of the foundation of the Bunker Hill Monument and was received with an exuberant outpouring of appreciation and gratitude everywhere he went in his 13-month journey through the then-24 states of the U.S.