Wayside Inn Historic District
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Wayside Inn Historic District | |
Location | Sudbury, Massachusetts |
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Coordinates | 42°21′28″N 71°28′5″W / 42.35778°N 71.46806°WCoordinates: 42°21′28″N 71°28′5″W / 42.35778°N 71.46806°W |
Built | 1686 |
Architect | Multiple |
Architectural style | Greek Revival, Colonial |
NRHP reference No. | 73000307 [1] |
Added to NRHP | April 23, 1973 |
The Wayside Inn Historic District is a historic district on Old Boston Post Road in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The district contains the Wayside Inn, a historic landmark that is one of the oldest inns in the country, operating as Howe's Tavern in 1716.[2] The district features Greek Revival and American colonial architecture. The area was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The Wayside Inn[]
Other structures[]
Henry Ford built a replica and fully working grist mill and a white non-denominational chapel, named after his mother, Mary, and mother-in-law, Martha.[citation needed] Less well known is Ford's attempt to create a reservoir for the Wayside Inn. Across US Rte. 20 and now secluded in a wooded area behind private homes is a 30 ft. high stone dam. Dubbed by the locals as "Ford's Folly" the structure failed to retain water because the feeding brook provided insufficient volume and the ground was too porous for a pond to fill.[citation needed]
In the grounds of the chapel stands a one-room schoolhouse that was moved there from its original location in Sterling, Massachusetts, by Ford, who believed the building was the actual schoolhouse mentioned in Sarah Josepha Hale's poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb", though little historical evidence exists to support his belief.[citation needed]
Gallery[]
The main entrance of the inn
A marker announcing George Washington's passing through in 1775
The Wayside Inn, c. 1935
The inn's grist mill
See also[]
References[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Longfellow's Wayside Inn. |
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
- ^ Historic Homes and Genealogical memoirs of Early New England pg 281-283 publ 1909 by Ellery Bicknell Crane
External links[]
- Sudbury, Massachusetts
- Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
- Historic districts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
- National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
- Tourist attractions in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
- Open-air museums in Massachusetts