Pilgrim Hall Museum Lifts a Glass to History

The July 20 event, organized by Pilgrim Society Trustee Peter Balboni and Package store, featured acclaimed Scottish raconteur Jeremy Bell. As part of his appearance, Bell portrayed Ambrose Gosling, founder of Gosling’s Bermuda Rum Distillery.

The evening’s festivities began with a rum tasting in the Museum’s Exhibit Room. Three tasting stations poured signature cocktails from Gosling’s, 10 Cane Rum, and Captain Morgan Black, as servers moved among the crowd with passed appetizers from Piantedosi’s Butcher Shop.

Following the cocktail hour, guests moved into the Main Hall for a three course dinner and Bell’s presentation, which used three different spirits to outline the history of the United States. Diners were regaled with educational stories of Washington’s Whiskey Rebellion and the Madeira Riots and were serenaded by Benjamin Franklin’s “Ode to Rum Punch” as Bell and fellow entertainer John Till played a wide range of period instruments.

The event was certainly successful as a fundraiser and brought in more than $2,500 for the Museum’s programming, but it truly shined when it came to raising the profile of the organization. “This was a wonderful event that brought new people into Pilgrim Hall Museum to have fun with our regular supporters”, said Anne Berry, Executive Director of the Pilgrim Society. “Three Glasses was a smashing success and I believe that we’ll get quite a few new members from it”.

After a brief birthday presentation and a fierce sword fight beneath Henry Sargent’s iconic painting “Landing of the Pilgrims”, the evening came to a close with an auction of three special bottles bearing the event’s namesake spirits.  Bruce Anderson, of Plymouth, was the high bidder on a bottle of “Old Rum” signed by Gosling’s Rum CEO Malcolm Gosling. Timothy Lawlor took home a bottle of 15 year old Madeira from Crossart-Gordon, the world’s oldest exporter of the wine and was also the proud winner of a bottle of Woodford Reserve bourbon, hand engraved with a quote from George Washington’s “general orders” mandating whiskey rations for his troops.