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 colonial history. History Incorporated in 1639, the boundar ...

. The district contains the

Wayside Inn 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 ...

, 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 Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

and

American colonial architecture American colonial architecture includes several building design styles associated with the Colonial history of the United States, colonial period of the United States, including First Period English (late-medieval), Spanish Colonial, French Colon ...

. The area was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1973.

The Wayside Inn

Other structures

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

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 Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

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 Sterling is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 7,985 at the 2020 census. History Previous to its incorporation, it was "the Second Parish of Lancaster." It was commonly called by a portion of its In ...

, by Ford, who believed the building was the actual schoolhouse mentioned in

Sarah Josepha Hale Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (October 24, 1788April 30, 1879) was an American writer, activist, and editor of the most widely circulated magazine in the period before the American Civil War, Civil War, ''Godey's Lady's Book''. She was the author of t ...

'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. Its Roud Folk Song Index number is 7622. Background The nursery rhyme was firs ...

". The

Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside The Mass Central Rail Trail (MCRT) is a partially completed rail trail between Northampton, Massachusetts and Boston along the Right-of-way (transportation), right-of-way (ROW) of the former Central Massachusetts Railroad#HistoricMassachusettsCen ...

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.

Gallery

Image:Sign for Longfellow's Wayside Inn, 2006.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 (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

's passing through in 1775 File:Wayside_Inn_Sudbury_1935.jpg, The Wayside Inn, c. 1935 File:Wayside Grist Mill.JPG, The inn's

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

The Wayside Inn

Other structures

Gallery

See also

References

External links