Order, Excess, and Revolution: Tavern Life in Colonial Florida

Taverns were a fixture of colonial life, providing centers for trade, lodging, gambling, entertainment, and of course, drinking. Colonial authorities also saw them as potential sites of subversion, where clandestine meetings, illicit trade, and treasonous talk might go unnoticed. Taverns were a central part of the public sphere in the colonial world. This was particularly true in Florida during the second Spanish period, which coincided with the age of revolutions across the rest of the Atlantic world, and authorities were on the alert for any revolutionary plots. Nor were their fears unfounded. Conspiracies ran rampant.

Diana Reigelsperger is an assistant professor of history at Seminole State College in Sanford, Florida. Her most recent publication is “Pirate, Priest, and Slave: Spanish Florida in the 1668 Searles Raid,” Florida Historical Quarterly 92, no. 3 (Winter 2014): 577-590. Her dissertation examines the dynamics of race and immigration in colonial Florida as the Spanish vied for control of the region with other European powers. She is currently revising this research into a book manuscript that examines dual facets of colonial life in Florida: conflict and trade.

This event is funded by Florida Humanities’ Florida Talks program in partnership with the Palm Coast Historical Society and Museum.