Don’t miss this fun event coming on Friday! This year’s theme is The Striped Pig, a unique event in Dedham history that I wrote about in my Dedham: Historic and Heroic Tales from Shiretown book. Read a short summary below. Hope to see you there!
The Annual Military Muster in September 1838 on Dedham’s Lower Plain (present day Hyde Park) was looking like it would be a gloomy affair. Earlier in the year, temperance advocates had succeeded in getting the Massachusetts legislature to pass the “15-gallon law,” which prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages in quantities less than 15 gallons. And what’s a military muster without access to abundant quantities of rum and whiskey?
Enter an inventive local who saved the day and unwittingly created a nationwide phenomenon that is still talked about to this day. The crafty vendor erected a tent on the field, with a sign inviting one and all to see the “Great Curiosity” of a Striped Pig. After paying their 6 and ¼ cents, patrons were indeed treated to the spectacle of a large and apparently contented pig, adorned with dark stripes looking suspiciously like fresh black paint. As a bonus, each paying customer was given a FREE glass of rum, thus quenching their thirst without breaking the law!
Within days the story of Dedham’s Wonder had spread across the country, and the Striped Pig was being celebrated in music halls and taverns far and wide. The phrase entered the nation’s vocabulary meaning both a ruse to skirt an unfair law (“We’ll have to try a Striped Pig device”) and a way to describe a drunken person (“Looks like he’s been riding the Striped Pig”). Striped Pig political parties were formed, some of which helped to bring an end to the 15-gallon law (and the re-election hopes of Governor Edward Everett who had signed it into law).
The Dedham Museum celebrates the creativity of that enterprising entrepreneur and his determined efforts to raise the “spirits” of Dedham’s citizens on that late summer night almost 200 years ago.
For tickets and more information click here:
https://www.dedhammuseum.org/special-events/tavern-night-5th-anniversary/
Dedham Tales 