Wayside Inn Historic District
Wayside Inn Historic District | |
| File:Wayside Inn 2025.jpg The Wayside Inn in 2025 | |
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| Location | Sudbury, Massachusetts |
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| Coordinates | Lua error in Module:Coordinates at line 489: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
| 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 nine heritage buildings,[2] including the Wayside Inn, a historic landmark that is one of the oldest inns in the country, operating as Howe's Tavern in 1716.[3] 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
[edit | edit source]Other structures
[edit | edit source]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.[4] Less well known is Ford's attempt to create a reservoir for the Wayside Inn. Across US Route 20 and now secluded in a wooded area behind private homes is a 30-foot (9.1 m)-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.[5]
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".[6][7]
The Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside is a 23-mile (37 km) 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.[8][9]
Gallery
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Sign with initials of previous owners of the inn
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A marker announcing George Washington's passing through in 1775
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The Wayside Inn, c. 1935
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Martha Mary Chapel
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Redstone School, with the chapel behind
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The inn's grist mill
See also
[edit | edit source]References
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- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Historic Homes and Genealogical memoirs of Early New England pg 281-283 publ 1909 by Ellery Bicknell Crane
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External links
[edit | edit source]- 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