The Wayside Inn Historic District is a historic district on
Old Boston Post Road in
Sudbury, Massachusetts
Sudbury is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 18,934. The town, located in Greater Boston's MetroWest region, has a rich colonial history.
History
Incorporated in 1639, the b ...
. 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. The district features
Greek Revival
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...
and
American colonial architecture
American colonial architecture includes several building design styles associated with the colonial period of the United States, including First Period English (late-medieval), French Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Dutch Colonial, and Georgian ...
. The area was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1973.
The Wayside Inn
Other structures
Henry Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...
built a replica and fully working
grist mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...
and a white non-denominational chapel, named after his mother, Mary, and mother-in-law, Martha. 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.
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
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" is an English language nursery rhyme of nineteenth-century American origin, first published by American writer Sarah Josepha Hale in 1830. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7622.
Background
The nursery rhyme was ...
".
Gallery
Image:2006-03 - Ethan's 4th birthday 049.jpg
Image:Wayside Inn2.jpg, The main entrance of the inn
Image:Sign at the Wayside Inn.jpg
Image:Marker at the Wayside Inn.jpg, A marker announcing George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
's passing through in 1775
File:Wayside_Inn_Sudbury_1935.jpg, The Wayside Inn, c. 1935
File:Wayside Grist Mill.JPG, The inn's grist mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...
See also
*
References
External links
*
At archive.org, the listing for the so-called "Front door diaries"
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
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