EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: Francis Symonds and the Bell Tavern: A Legacy of Patriotism in Danvers/Salem, Massachusetts

Monday, April 20, 2026

Francis Symonds and the Bell Tavern: A Legacy of Patriotism in Danvers/Salem, Massachusetts

This post is another preview of my forthcoming two-volume, 1,800+ page, tenth book, titled, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, Danvers, Peabody, Beverly and Salem, Massachusetts: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2026/01/update-on-new-book-book-sent-to.html.

While conducting research for this book, I discovered a fascinating account of the Bell Tavern in Danvers/Salem (now Peabody), which served as an important meeting place for both local social life and patriotic leaders in the 1770s. In some ways, the Bell Tavern was similar to the Three Cranes Tavern in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which burned at the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775. The story of the Bell Tavern is included in the new book; here is part of that story!

"...Established in 1740 by Francis Symonds (1720-1775), the Bell Tavern stood at the intersection where Main and Washington Streets met in Salem (now Peabody), Massachusetts. Although the original building is believed to have been built in 1757 by Symonds, who also operated the area’s first printing press out of this building.

The tavern was a meeting place for travelers and patriots alike. Until 1752, what we now call Danvers or Peabody was actually part of Salem and was known as Salem Village. Since Francis was active in Danvers during the mid-to-late 1700s, his family would have originally been considered Salem residents.

The Bell Tavern in Danvers served as a critical nerve center for Revolutionary excitement and the patriot cause under the ownership of Symonds. The tavern was a key meeting place for the Sons of Liberty; it also became the site of a dramatic political confrontation in 1770 when local patriots forced a merchant caught selling boycotted tea to sign a formal public apology.

Interestingly, in some ways, the Bell Tavern was the North Shore's version of the famous Three Cranes Tavern in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Both were legendary "Revolutionary hubs,” however, the Three Cranes Tavern was burned to the ground by the British during the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, while the Bell Tavern survived the war, only to be taken down in the nineteenth century.

The archaeology of the Three Cranes Tavern, conducted as part of Boston’s Big Dig Project in the 1980s, revealed a series of eighteenth century privies, which contained a wide variety of locally produced red earthenware. It was likely a similar scenario at the Bell Tavern, since Danvers and Salem both sustained significant red earthenware businesses during this period, such as the Symonds family, Osborn family and Southwick family, etc. It is likely that there were eighteenth and early nineteenth century privies associated with the Bell Tavern, although it is unclear if they are still buried beneath the ground in Peabody or if they were removed in the nineteenth century.

However, Francis Symonds' commitment to the patriotic cause extended beyond political gatherings, where he was also active in military service, most notably during the Battle of Menotomy, fought on April 19, 1775. This was the bloodiest and most brutal engagement of the first day of the American Revolution. While Lexington and Concord are more famous, more men fell in the village of Menotomy (now Arlington, Massachusetts) than in any other location during the British retreat to Boston.

Symonds served as a Second Lieutenant in Captain Samuel Epes's (1747-1819) Company of Danvers minutemen. As previously noted in Volume I of this book, some of the men who lost their lives on this day, included soldiers from Danvers pottery families; Samuel Cook Junior (1742-1775), George Southwick Junior (1750-1775) and Ebenezer Goldthwaite (1754-1775).

According to local legend - in recognition of his bravery and leadership, the citizens of Danvers supposedly presented Symonds with an engraved warming pan—a unique and prestigious gift for a respected local hero of the community’s resistance against British rule. The pan is inscribed with a figure of a "Bell" and the words, "In toll you in / If you have need / And feed you well / And bid you speed." But current research debates this information and suggests it was actually made as a commemorative object in the nineteenth century.

While there is not a direct association with the Symonds family of furniture makers and red earthenware potters in Salem (i.e. son, grandson, nephew, cousin, etc.), it is likely that Francis was related in some way. The Symonds name was relatively contained to this part of Massachusetts in the 1700s, so there is a probability that he belonged to one of the branches of the broader John Symonds (1594–1671) lineage that dominated the area. John was a seventeenth century cabinet maker in Salem, with later generations working as red earthenware potters in Salem and Charlestown after 1740.

Nevertheless, the original 1700s building of the Bell Tavern was torn down in 1840 after it was bought by the Daniels family. The new owner, a local leather maker named David Daniels (1809-1880), decided to destroy the historic landmark simply to make room for a new row of shops and storefronts that would make more money..."

Note: For more information about the archaeology of the Three Cranes Tavern in Charlestown - see my third book, titled, The Dawn of Independence, the Death of an Industry: The Pottery of Charlestown, Massachusetts: https://historicbeverly.net/product/the-dawn-of-independence-the-death-of-an-industry/.

Francis Symonds and the Bell Tavern