The Transcendentalist
With Concord & Cambridge in the vicinity (home of Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau, Alcott, and others), these old taverns were regularly visited by many of the philosophical & literary leaders of the time.
Thoreau’s Journal, May 22, 1853
“This is the third windy day followed by two days of rain…a washing day…such as we always have at this season methinks. The grass has sprung up as by magic since the rains. The birds are heard through pleasant dashing wind than enlivens everything…Left our horse at the Howe Tavern. The oldest date on the sign is ‘D.H. 1716.’ An old women, who had been a servant in the family, said she was ninety one and that this was the first house built on this spot. Went on to Nobscot.”
Journal of Ralph Waldo Emerson, November 14, 1848
“T is the coldest November I have ever known. This morning the mercury is at 26. Yesterday afternoon cold, fine ride with Ellery to Sudbury Inn, and mounted the side of Nobscot…
Journal of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oct 31, 1862
” Drive with Fields to the old Red Horse Tavern in Sudbury — alas ! no longer an inn ! A lovely valley, the winding road shaded by grand old oaks before the house. A rambling, tumble-down old building, two hundred years old.”
Alice Earle Morse describes Longfellow’s first correspondance about visiting the tavern in her classic “Stage Coach and Tavern Days”: “The stage left Boston about three 0′clock in the morning, reaching the Sudbury Tavern for breakfast, a considerable portion of the route being traveled in total darkness, and without your having the least idea who your companion might be.” (1840)
William Ellery Channing, writing of a May 23, 1855 ” Blossom Day” Walk
Channing, Emerson, and Thoreau came from Concord to the Wayside Inn for a walk to Old Nobscot. Commenting on the day’s conversation, Channing said to his companions:
“For an inscription upon our Wayside Inn, Howe’s Tavern, here are lines:”
Who set thine oaks
Along the road?
Was it not Nature’s hand
Old Sudbury Inn? for here I stand
And wonder at the sight:
Thy oaks are my delight,
As are the elms,
So bolding branching to the sky,
And the interminable woods,
Old Inn that wash thee nigh
On every side,
With green and rustling tide.
Such oaks! Such elms!
And the contenting woods,
And Nobscot near;
Old Inn! ’tis here
That I, creature of moods,
A haunt could find
Well suited to the custom of my mind.
Nobscot is a small ‘mountain’ in the vicinity (Nobscot, shortened by colonists from the Algonquin “Penobscot,” means “The Place Where the Rocks Open Out”). Between the mountain and Wayside Inn there is an old dam called ‘Ford’s Folly’, named after Henry Ford who commissioned it (it never worked, the soil it was built on was unstable and caused leaking). It was meant to be a reservoir for the Wayside Inn’s fire protection system. It is a massive stonework hidden in the woods (located about where the last “n” is in ”Inn” below, google map/satellite it for fun). Nobscot mountain and the land on the east side is principally owned by the Knox Trail Boy Scout Council. See my other website: www.scoutingclub.com for more related information. (map credit: Garfield & Ridley)
(Picture of Ford’s Folly)
Window Etchings
One of the historical artifacts of the inn – mentioned in Longfellow’s Tale’s as well as numerous historical documents dating to the 1800’s - is the window engraving made by Major Molineaux in the front palor window. Strangely, there is another similar window etching across the pond in Henley, England - at the Red Lion Inn (that I just by coincidence stayed at for work one year). The verse is fairly similar, but I have yet to read of anyone putting these two together. (Molineaux, 24 years later, could he have been influenced by Shenstone’s at the Red Lion?) . Even more strangely, the 1889 “History of Sudbury” chapter 32 (on The Wayside Inn!) starts off with Shenstone’s verse (!), AND it also appears on the cover of Elise Lathrop’s 1926 book about taverns (see resource tab). It seems it’s been in the public domain for a while. No mention was made that it related to Molineaux’s poem. Over in Concord, Hawthorne and his wife etched some verse in the window of The Old Manse (where they were renting a room), so perhaps it was just somewhat common back then. The Molineaux glass has been preserved at the Wayside Inn and is on display.
And, flashing on the window-pane,
Emblazoned with its light and made The jovial rhymes, that still remain,
Writ near a century ago, By the great Major Molineaux,
Whom Hawthorne has immortal made.
(Note his signature and date are on an adjoining pane. The pane above is on display at the inn.)
Hawthorne was very pleased Longfellow mentioned him in his tales like this – he wrote Longfellow back in a now-famous letter:
Red Lion Inn History: http://www.redlionhenley.co.uk/History.html
The White Swan Inn also lays claim to the place where Shenstone wrote the poem, however apparently not the window etching. The White Swan has been associated with the Shenstone poem in past references.
White Swan History: http://www.thewhiteswanhotel.com/pages/about_us/
From the Boston Tea Party Society:
(Not sure if this is the same person, the last name is missing an “a”, but many documents reference the window etching [incorrectly] without it. Check. This could have been his father as well.
William Molineux – charismatic street agitator
William Molineux (c. 1717 – October 22, 1774), Boston merchant and friend of Samuel Adams was one of the most influential and radical patriots. By some accounts he had more authority on the streets of pre-revolutionary Boston than Adams himself. He died unexpectedly at age 58, just one year after the Boston Tea Party stirring up rumors about assassination and suicide.
Unlike other revolutionary leaders, who tried to distance themselves from the mobs that carried out protests, Molineux was not afraid to get his hands dirty. The Boston Tea Party was one of such acts. Molineux not only organized the protesters but actually lead them to destroy the tea.
(We do know that Molineaux’s father was a friend of Sam Adams and James Otis and that his father “walked beside’s the King’s troops in Boston to save them from the insults of the townspeople.”)
The Concord Hymn, Emerson, The Old North Bridge
& Battle Monument Dedication 1837
Collection of research I did on this topic. I was interested in learning more about the events of that day. Since we march to the Old North Bridge every April 19th, I was hoping to someday add something about Emerson’s hymn at the closing ceremony. Some nice old pic’s of how the bridge has changed over time included at the end.
The Other Wayside Inn
For a brief period, there was a second Wayside Inn. In 1934, the second year of the Chicago World’s Fair, a colonial village was built that included a replica of this famous structure (yellow building on right). Click on the picture below to a link contain more information on the village. After the fair, the structures were purchased by a real estate developer and barged down the lake to Indiana. Now only 5 structure remain, all the “modern” houses highlighting ‘housing of the future’. All others must have fallen into disrepair or purchased/demolished by the NPS when it turned the entire property in the Indiana Dunes National Park. I’d like to find pictures and know more about this one.
Map of where it was moved: http://www.bevshrshistsoc.org/buildings.html
*There are many, many inns and restaurants called “The Wayside Inn” (there is even another well known one in Massachusetts down in Chatham). It’s a name that’s been used for eons. Longfellow was going to call his tales – “The Sudbury Tales”, but thinking it sounded to close to Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” (and knowing the tale itself had a close resemblance to Chaucer’s work), he reconsidered and chose “Tales of a Wayside Inn.” ‘Wayside’ was just an adjective used. The name took hold colloquially, then officially, soon after the book was published.
Wayside Inn Well
First starts appearing in photographs around 1907, so an ER Lemon time period addition.
By 1930 the well changes to a pump
Wayside Inn Carriages
Sudbury, Massachusetts between 1897 and 1919. The sign states that “this Coach is owned by E.R. Lemon, Wayside Inn.” (E.R. Lemon owned the inn from 1897 until 1919.) The sign also reads “Gov. Eustis (1823-1825) Private Coach in which Gen L. Lafayette rode to the dedication of the Bunker Hill Monument in 1824.”
This particular coach was manufactured in 1867 by the Abbot-Downing Coach Company and was used to haul passengers, mail, and small freight items in this area. For a while, it was used on the Marlborough to Worcester run along the Boston Post Road. The coach remained in service until 1912.
In the 1920s, the coach was purchased by Henry Ford and used as the stagecoach to carry passengers, transporting guests of the Wayside Inn, located in Sudbury, Massachusetts, to and from the railroad station. Henry Ford was the last private owner of the Wayside Inn, and he purchased three different Concord Coaches for use at the Inn. One of the coaches was later sold to Concord Group Insurance Company, where it is now on display at the company’s headquarters in Concord, New Hampshire, only a short distance from the place it was manufactured. The fate of the third Concord Coach purchased by Henry Ford for use at the Wayside Inn is unknown.
If interested in Concord Coaches, Google Book “The Turnpikes of New England.” Page 44 starts a section describing these.
Washington Marker
Well, if he didn’t sleep here, at least he passed by it! (and probably refreshed himself). During his 1789 visit to New England after the war, Washington had lunch up the road at William’s Tavern in Marlborough, and he slept and dined at Capt. Flagg’s Tavern in Weston (which no longer exists).
