Marines Are Fighting Over Who Gets to Rebuild Tun Tavern

Marine veteran Monty Dahm has long wanted to build a replica of Tun Tavern, the legendary birthplace of the U.S. Marine Corps, near its original site in Philadelphia.

Earlier this month, he reached an agreement to buy a restaurant in Old City Philadelphia that he plans to rechristen as Tun Tavern, hopefully in time for the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps’ founding this Nov. 10, he said.

“I’ve always wanted to do it in Philadelphia,” Dahm told Task & Purpose recently. “I’m a block-and-a-half away from Independence Hall. I’m on the same block across the street from the Revolutionary War museum. I’m also a block away from the original site of the Tun Tavern.”

But Dahm is not alone. The nonprofit The Tun Legacy Foundation is pursuing a similar project. The group’s planned replica, which would be known as “The Tun,” would be located roughly a block away from where Dahm plans to open his Tun Tavern.