Pre-Revolution coffeehouses were hotbeds of rebellion. The first coffeehouse in America opened in Boston in 1676. Like the barrooms in American taverns, women were banned from entering since it was a place where men went to discuss politics, farming, sports, business; all those things that women were considered to simple minded to understand.
Sometimes I will dress in my 18th century clothes and act as a guide and greeter at the Wayside Inn (formerly the Red Horse Inn) in Sudbury, MA. When I see women in the barroom I tell them that historical fact just to rile them...and it works! Once a woman told me that no man could be a success without a woman to guide him. I told her, "That's right. Behind every successful man is a greedy woman!" Its a good thing she wasn't armed.
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I'd rather be historically accurate than politically correct.
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