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Wayside Inn Historic District

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Coordinates: 42°21′28″N 71°28′5″W / 42.35778°N 71.46806°W / 42.35778; -71.46806
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For other uses, see Wayside Inn (disambiguation).

Wayside Inn Historic District
The Wayside Inn in 2007
Wayside Inn Historic District is located in Massachusetts
Wayside Inn Historic District
Wayside Inn Historic District is located in the United States
Wayside Inn Historic District
LocationSudbury, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°21′28″N 71°28′5″W / 42.35778°N 71.46806°W / 42.35778; -71.46806
Built1686
ArchitectMultiple
Architectural styleGreek Revival, Colonial
NRHP reference No.73000307 [1]
Added to NRHPApril 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

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Further information: The Wayside Inn (Sudbury)

Other structures

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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 the Redstone School, a one-room schoolhouse which was moved 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".[3][4]

The Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside is a 23 mile Massachusetts state park forming the northeastern border of the district; the "Wayside" name was selected as the Wayside Inn Railroad Waiting Room was a B&M station at the crossing with Dutton Road.[5][6]

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  • The main entrance of the inn
    The main entrance of the inn
  • A marker announcing George Washington's passing through in 1775
    A marker announcing George Washington's passing through in 1775
  • The Wayside Inn, c. 1935
    The Wayside Inn, c. 1935
  • The inn's grist mill
    The inn's grist mill

See also

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References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Longfellow's Wayside Inn.
  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. ^ Historic Homes and Genealogical memoirs of Early New England pg 281-283 publ 1909 by Ellery Bicknell Crane
  3. ^ Bryan, Ford R. (2002). Friends, Families & Forays: Scenes from the Life and Times of Henry Ford. Wayne State University Press. p. 381.
  4. ^ Crane, Ellery Bicknell (1907). Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts: With a History of Worcester Society of Antiquity, Volume 1. Lewis Publishing Company. p. 377.
  5. ^ "33 Wayside Inn Railroad Waiting Room". Sudbury Historical Society. October 7, 2024. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  6. ^ Fox, Pamela W. (Spring 2018). "Weston Historical Society Bulletin Vol XLIX, No.1: 1997: Weston Derails the Rail Trail" (PDF). Weston Historical Society. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
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