The DeWolfs owned and operated plantations in the Caribbean and had ties to southern slavers as well. Their reach went beyond Bristol towards founding mills in places like Coventry. This economic power let them propel people like James DeWolf to be a US Senator from RI. James in particular was one of the families more problematic figures because he had a murder indictment and fled the country a few times to avoid prosecution (including violating federal laws banning the importation of slaves). James's grand-nephew, George, was another slave trader and plantation owner but by this generation the family had gotten so powerful that the entire town relied on them financially. So when George's investments went south, he defaulted and basically screwed the entire community before bailing for Cuba like his ancestors to hide from his investors.

The irony here is that the family already changed the names of their assets and holdings following this financial controversy to get their name off of them. I think the tavern exists with that name to highlight the family's historical prominence in the town and state, but I agree that this history was paid for by both the freedom and also lives of hundreds of slaves, and the family wasn't exactly upstanding. They're a more clearly corrupt case than say the Brown brothers, where one was a slave trader (John) and the other (Moses) tried to at least use that money for good due to his moral opposition to slavery.

The legacy of the family is often celebrated like a sort of "cosmopolitan rogue" kind of deal that is "defacto Rhode Island" from the revolutionary era. They get celebrated for being rich, having political power, entertaining elites, and serving as privateers or generals in the wars of the late 18th and early 19th century but their means of financing those activities through chattel slavery often becomes a footnote and is easy to forget.