Assembling in the community

There being no legislature building at first, the Assembly held its early sessions in private homes and taverns, reportedly including the Crossed Keys Tavern (a plaque marking its former location still hangs in downtown Charlottetown) – though while that tavern’s role in Island history is an oft-repeated tradition, historians such as Lorne Callbeck and Isaac L. Stewart cast doubt on whether the very first Assembly sat there since documentation indicates the property may have been a vacant lot in 1773. 

One early Assembly story often linked to the Crossed Keys has a firm basis in historical fact, whether it happened in that tavern or not. As noted in Assembly records, Sergeant-at-Arms and doorkeeper Edward Ryan was relieved of his duties for inappropriate language. Legend has it he called the early Assembly “a damned queer parliament.” Whatever his words, he was fined five shillings for his indiscretion.