Built circa 1754 on Olde King's Highway, the Crocker Tavern served as a stage coach stop, an inn, and important meeting place into the mid 1800s. Cornelius Crocker, one of the wealthiest men in Barnstable Parish, was the first keeper of the Tavern. According to signed documents from the Barnstable Historical Commission, the activities that took place at the Crocker Tavern were "... instrumental in changing the boundaries of America, taking Canada from the French, and then helping to remove this country from England's dominance. Here is an actual structure which was once filled with our Colonial ancestors - lawyers, judges, farmers, merchants, mariners, Indians, slaves, men of honor and wealth and those of lesser means - all contributing to our heritage."

Under the stewardship of Cornelius Crocker, the inn became the meeting place for the Whigs (the Patriots) prior to, and during, the Revolutionary War. At the same time the Tories (the Loyalists) gathered less than 100 yards to the west on Olde Kings Highway at the Loring Tavern. The Whigs were led by James Otis, Jr., and 22 others including the Crockers, the Lothrops, and John Davis. The Whigs who met at Crocker Tavern waged a courageous and uphill struggle because the moderates of Barnstable Village sympathized and sided with the Tories. On the other hand Barnstable was at the front of Whig activity for the entire Cape. In order to align Barnstable and all of the Cape villages in support of the patriotic cause, James Otis, Jr., the Crockers, and the other Whig leaders created a County Committee with regional representation. The purpose of this Committee, which convened at the Crocker Tavern, was in Otis' own words "to meet and consult what is most proper to be done in this day of difficulty."

After the Declaration of Independence, Barnstable and the other towns of the Cape reluctantly joined the ranks of the rebels. Nonetheless the patriotic campaign spearheaded at the Crocker Tavern had succeeded. As a result, it was historically symbolic and appropriate that the Cape militia gathered in front of the Crocker Tavern and across the street at Rendevous Lane before marching to Lexington and Concord to fight for American independence.

Thus, the Crocker Tavern is not only a local, but also a national historic landmark particularly because of the role fulfilled by James Otis, Jr. prior to, and during, the American Revolution. Otis was a revolutionary leader for Barnstable, for the Cape, for the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and for all thirteen colonies. Samuel Adams regarded Otis as more effective and more important to the patriotic cause than Patrick Henry. President John Adams, in fact, said of Otis' Writs of Assistance Speech in February, 1761, "American independence was then and there born."

The meticulous restoration and careful preservation of the Tavern stirs the imagination of what transpired at this site during the Colonial period and the revolutionary epoch, as well as throughout our own national history. Those who rent the Tavern have an opportunity to indulge their curiosity and appreciation for our national heritage and the birth of American liberty. The Crocker Tavern is Cape Cod's authentic "Cradle of American Liberty."