History & Landlords of the Wayside Inn:
John How, one of the original 54 settlers of Sudbury, established a residence 0n or about 1637. Sudbury then was a wilderness, abutting a large indian settlement and planting ground. John had a son, Samuel, born in 1672, who was a carpenter by trade. In 1702, Samuel gave his son David a tract of land of 130 acres. On this, the story of How(e)’s Tavern begins.
(Note that John How was also a tavern keeper (as was another of his sons, John Jr. (Samuel’s brother)). His tavern, now within the borders of Marlborough, is discussed on the ‘Howe Taverns, Marlborough, MA’ page).
In 1716 David How began what was then called a “hous of entertainment” along the Old Boston Post Road, one of the first mail routes in the country (operating since 1673). Known as Howe’s Tavern, the Inn was an expansion of Howe’s own private home. Business thrived by way of the busy coach traffic to and from the cities of Boston, Worcester, and New York.
In 1746, David How passed the family business to his son, Ezekiel How, a Lieutenant Colonial who led the Sudbury Minute and Militia to Concord center at the beginning of the Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775. Each generation expanded the Inn’s main building as business thrived. Ezekiel renamed the tavern “The Red Horse Tavern.”
A well known character of the Inn in the time of Ezekiel How was Ponto, the negro dwarf slave. He is also called Pompey or Portsmouth. It was said that he was bought in Portsmouth, NH. He slept in a bunk in the attic, a wooden box like affair with high legs. He is pictured as a timid little fellow, “often hiding under a low shelf in the hallway when strangers were present.” (John Van Schaick, The Characters in Tales of a Wayside Inn)
The Inn’s prosperity continued as Ezekiel passed the tavern business to his son, Adam Howe, in 1796, who in turn handed it down to his son, Lyman Howe, in 1830. Lyman died in 1861, having never married, and the Inn was inherited by relatives who ceased formal operation of the Inn for short overnight accommodation, but continued renting out the hall for dances and rooms for lengthier stays.
After the death of the last Howe innkeeper in 1861, the homestead operated as a boarding house for itinerate farmers and other temporary guests.
The Wayside Inn changed hands twice during the 1890s. Atherton W. Rogers, ex-Mayor Herbert Howe of Marlborough and ex-Alderman Homer Rogers of Boston bought it from Lucy A. Newton in 1893. Mrs. Newton had inherited it from thee state of Lyman Howe. The Lowell Weekly Journal speculated that Ex-Mayor Howe’s interest in the 90-acre property stemmed from his connection with a proposed new state central electric plan that would include an electric railroad from Waltham to Marlborough. Plans called for that railway to pass directly in front of the Inn.
In 1897, Malden Wool Merchant Edward R. Lemon read about the Inn in the New England Magazine, drove out to inspect it, bought it on the spot, and, on April 1, 1897, opened it to the public once more. Lemon moved a woodshed to the east end of the building and converted it into an art gallery and museum for his collection of antique furniture. He enlarged the third floor of the main building and added dormer windows in the front, prompting one local correspondent to the Journal to bemoan the passing of the “good old days.” (From historical information articles in: Sudbury, 1890-1989, 100 years in the Life of a Town (Chapter 3)).
Edward Rivers Lemon was a wealthy antiquarian and wool merchant from Medford, Massachusetts. His purchase of the Howe property on January 27, 1897 was newsworthy, as Boston papers announced his intention of making his new business venture a “mecca for literary pilgrims.” Lemon’s wanted to attract people to South Sudbury as a summer retreat, emphasizing its age-old traditions as well as its artistic and literary history. It was Edward Lemon who officially renamed the Red Horse Tavern to ”Longfellow’s Wayside Inn”. The name “Longfellow” had to be added because another inn down in Virginia claimed the name about the same time and I understand threatened a lawsuit way back then.
Edward passed away in 1919, his wife Cora sold the inn to Henry Ford 4 years later. See picture below.
Henry Ford purchased the Inn July 10, 1923, Henry Ford envisioned transforming the old Colonial Inn into a living museum of American history, an interest that predates the development of both Greenfield Village and Colonial Williamsburg. Ford purchased 3,000 acres of property surrounding the Inn, added eight new buildings to the site (including the Redstone School in 1925 (moved from Shirley, MA), the Gristmill in 1929 and the Martha-Mary Chapel in 1941), and collected antiquities, including lost Howe family property. In 1944 the Ford estate turned it over to a trust. When the inn nearly burned completely down in 1955, the Ford Foundation paid for the restoration. Henry’s portrait very deservedly hangs in the Ford Room at the inn (his old bedroom while he owned the inn).
Besides the Wayside Inn property, Henry Ford also invested in/created Deerfield Village, MI and Richmond Hills, GA.
(some of the above text is from wayside.org, sign above from Historic Fields and Mansions of Middlesex, see resource section).
Aug 20,1924. President Coolidge autographing a 125 year old oak sap bucket presented to Henry Ford to be preserved as a relic at the Wayside Inn. Seated with Coolidge are Harvey Firestone, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Russell Firestone (standing), Mrs. Coolidge, and the president’s father, Col. John Coolidge. You can see the sap bucket hanging in the taproom in one of the old photos also posted.
Mina Edison, Harvey Firestone, Thomas Edison, Alice Longfellow, Henry and Clara Ford, parlor of the Wayside Inn, 1924.
From Left, Henry Ford, Cora Lemon, unknown, Clara Ford, 1923. Transitioning ownership to Henry Ford.
1926 Henry Ford on a Wayside Inn pond
Here he is ice skating in 1918:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=TheHenryFord#p/search/0/yivYDlB88_8
1924 Ford and Firestone Tractor Demo at the Wayside Inn
This photo was taken of Henry Ford at the Wayside Inn, Sudbury, MA during blinding showstorm on January 9th, 1926, as he posed with two of his prize oxen. These oxen, selected from the finest stock, do the work of horses, and according to Ford are highly satisfactory. Then he went indoors and with a large party of friends listened to eight old time fiddlers who came through the driving snow to entertain.
Poor quality – but great picture of Firestone, Edison, and Ford sitting in the old Kitchen. I’ll work to find the original.
Feb 21, 1924
Historic Figures:
Longfellow: Longfellow visited the Howe Tavern in 1862, and based his book on a group of fictitious characters that regularly gathered at the old Sudbury tavern. Lyman Howe was the character featured in “The Landlord’s Tale,” where Longfellow’s penned the immortal phrase “listen my children and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.” His 1862-1863 Sudbury Tales, renamed before publication to “Tales of a Wayside Inn”, made this historic Howe Tavern famous.
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Jerusha Howe (1797 -1842): Miss Jerusha Howe, the eldest sister of the landlord [Lyman], and four years his senior, was ever cherished by the doughty Squire with peculiar tenderness, and her death, which occured some twenty years before his own, remained a lasting sorrow. Fascinating stories are told of the fragile Miss Jerusha’s beauty and here gentle manner. The old spinnet of the inn parlor, the first musical instrument of it’s kind to appear in the town of Sudbury, was purchased for Miss Jerusha, who used to play upon it “The Battle of Prague” and “Copenhagen Waltz.” She used to sing too, in a thin and decorous voice, the sweet strains of “Highland Mary,” so fashionable in that day. (1894 The New England Magazine). She died at age 45. In her will she left money to the town to start a fund for poor people to buy fuel. A small part of her diary is in the Resources section.
(above from: Historical Reminiscences of the Early Times In Marlborough, by Ella Bigelow, 1910)
Below, Jerusha Howe’s Grave in the Wadsworth Cemetery, Sudbury, MA.
Frank Koppeis: Turned the inn from a museum into a working, living entity & made accessible to all. Frank was also responsible for helping to start the Fife & Drum tradition at the Inn. Loved by all who knew him. Garfield and Ridley, in their book “As Ancient is this Hostelry,” do a fine job describing Frank and what he did for the inn.
From my copy of “Tales of a Wayside Inn”:
(2/26/10 note: I saw the sign last night and noticed it says “women” on only one side!)
Oct 1970 Commerce Digest
John Cowden: Current Innkeeper
Wayside Inn welcomes new innkeeper
By Carole LaMond/Staff Writer
GateHouse News Service, Wicked Local Sudbury
Posted Oct 07, 2008
SUDBURY — The Wayside Inn recently welcomed John J. Cowden, Jr. as its new innkeeper, and in a fitting twist for the property whose mission is to preserve history, but attract twenty-first century patronage, Cowden discovered the job posting on the Internet.
“I actually found the opportunity on line. It mentioned an historic inn in the Boston area,” said Cowden who has managed some of New England’s most recognized inns. “I drove up on a beautiful Sunday with my son, and the moment we parked in the lot I knew this was for me. The minute I walked in the door I was sold.”
Cowden plans to move to the area from Duxbury where he now lives with his wife Laurie, son, Parker, 11, and daughter, Teddi, 13.
Cowden, whose first day as innkeeper was Sept. 17, was selected from hundreds of candidates after a lengthy interview process with a committee appointed by the inn’s Board of Trustees.
“A good innkeeper is somebody that creates experiences, somebody that keeps the employees motivated and energized, somebody who creates a positive work environment,” said Cowden. “If things are positive with the staff things will be positive with the guests.”
Cowden is a hands-on manager. “I go through a pair of loafers in six weeks because I’m constantly going from department to department assisting where I can,” said Cowden with a laugh. “You can walk through the halls here and pull an employee aside and ask, ‘How long have you been here?’ and you hear 20, 30, even 40 years. That speaks volumes for the management of the inn, that employees would stay here for so many years.”
Cowden wants to “keep doing what we do well” at the Wayside Inn, but hopes to make some changes to attract a younger crowd to the inn whose clientele now averages 55 and older.
“We’re missing out on the demographic of the young professionals in their 30s and 40s, and families. We have to capture that,” said Cowden. “I think there are going to be some new menu ideas, a bigger wine list and some trendy things like martinis on the bar menu. The younger set also eats later.”
Some things are sacrosanct, said Cowden with a smile. Yankee pot roast and chicken pot pie will never disappear from the menu.
Cowden is talking with the staff about his ideas which include extended dining hours, menu changes, patio dining, children’s programs and entertainment.
“For an institution like this you have to maintain the historical integrity” said Cowden. “You have to think about that with everything you do here.”
Cowden, 47, a Norwell native, has been in the hospitality business since he graduated from high school in 1979 and got a job at the Harbor House on Nantucket. Cowden started in the hotel’s housekeeping department, but the general manager decided that the personable teenager should be in the front of the house as a bellman.
“That first day on the floor I knew this is what I wanted to do,” said Cowden who worked at the hotel throughout his summers as a Boston College student. “I knew I didn’t want to manage your typical hotel. I wanted a place with history and character, that’s where I felt most at home.”
Cowden has managed the Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth, Maine as well as the Publick House in Sturbridge. He was vice president and general manager at the Jared Coffin House in Nantucket for six years before becoming the opening general manager at the Old Sandwich Golf Club in Plymouth. He and his wife also own the Sun Tavern in Duxbury.
Cowden becomes only the eighth person to hold the title of innkeeper in the 300-year old inn’s history.
The inn was established by the How family in 1716 and remained in the family until Lyman How died in 1861. The inn operated as a boarding house for years until it was purchased by Edward Lemon in 1897. Lemon renamed it Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in honor of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who visited the inn in 1862 and whose best-selling volume of poems, “Tales of a Wayside Inn,” made the Sudbury inn an iconic tourist destination.
Henry Ford bought the inn in 1923, and after his death in 1947, it was operated by a series of managers under an historic preservation trust until Francis Koppeis became innkeeper in 1959 followed by Bob Purrington in 1989.
“I feel very proud, honored, to assume this responsibility,” said Cowden.
Wayside Inn prepares for big expansion
By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Correspondent | January 2, 2010
(Note: Under Tavern Pages, see link to “New Carriage House Inn” for color material on this building)
As the historic Wayside Inn prepares for its biggest expansion in 300 years, the question arises: What would poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow write today about his old muse in Sudbury?
New innkeeper John Cowden plans to lease the nearby Clarion Carriage House Inn over the next five years, with an option to buy. The move would increase the Wayside Inn’s number of rooms more than five-fold, from 10 to 56.
Wayside Inn would manage the Clarion Carriage House, which is less than a mile away, while its current owner begins renovating the inn this year, expanding the number of guest rooms from 34 to 46. After five years, Wayside would have the option buy it.
“Given these changing times, you have to think outside the box,’’ said Cowden, “So we’ve done a lot of that.’’
Leo Xarras, a partner at OS Sudbury LLC, which owns the Clarion Carriage House, said the inn will be much more upscale when renovations are complete.
“The Wayside Inn is a very successful food and beverage venue, and I think the hard part for them has been the lodging component – not having the additional guest rooms to bring in the wedding parties and everything else,’’ said Xarras, whose company also owns the Castle Hill Resort and Spa in Ludlow, Vt. “When renovated, the Carriage House will do just that.’’
Neither Cowden nor Xarras would discuss financial details of the pending deal, which could begin another chapter for the storied Wayside Inn.
Reputed to be the oldest operating inn in the country, it looks like it was pulled from the canvas of an 18th-century painting. Its innkeepers over the years have expanded, adapted, and one time even rebuilt the inn after fire gutted it in 1955. The constant has been that, for three centuries, the Wayside Inn has survived war, disaster, and even the occasional economic recession.
Cowden started making changes quickly after he was named innkeeper in September. A gift shop was converted into a bake shop, turning out breads, cookies, and scones using flour ground at the inn’s on-site mill. He plans this year to turn the bake shop into an New England general store with penny candy and fresh produce. Cowden also renovated the inn’s ballroom and plans to add outdoor fire pits for dinner and cocktail hours. With the down economy, Cowden also added dinner specials, package room-meal specials, and a free country-style breakfast for all overnight guests. The total cost of the improvements, Cowden said, was about $30,000.
Management has been trying to attract a younger clientele to the Wayside Inn, and Cowden said the changes have paid off: The inn’s restaurant booked 600 dinner reservations for New Year’s Eve, including many young couples, and the guest rooms were all full. But “things haven’t all been rosy,’’ he said. While the inn’s gross revenue was down just 2 percent in 2009, Cowden has had to make cutbacks including cutting employee benefits and leaving some jobs vacant.
The Wayside Inn has been a case study in preservation for centuries. It was founded as Howe’s Tavern in 1716. A tablet marks the time in 1775 when George Washington marched passed the tavern on his way to take command of the Continental Army.
When Longfellow penned “Tales of a Wayside Inn’’ in 1862, the inn was reduced to little more than a rundown boarding house after the last member of the Howe family had died. In 1923, industrialist Henry Ford, a Longfellow admirer, purchased the inn, renovated it, and put its 125 acres in a nonprofit trust, ensuring its long-term preservation. Fire gutted the inn in 1955, but the Ford Foundation quickly rebuilt and restored it. It has been in business ever since.
“The Wayside Inn has been an institution in town dating back to virtually the origins of Sudbury,’’ said Larry O’Brien, a Sudbury selectman who has a particular appreciation of the inn’s restaurant and tavern.
“When you’re there, you know you’re in a room that’s served a purpose for 300 years,’’ O’Brien said.
Cowden said the current incarnation of Wayside maintains its Colonial charm but is a far cry from the rundown boarding house that Longfellow saw.
“I think he’d probably say, ‘Wow this isn’t how I remembered it,’ ’’ Cowden said.
Sudbury, 1890-1989, 100 years in the Life of a Town (Chapter 3)
Historical Information Articles
“…Few and far between are the relics of even old Sudbury becoming so far as concerns relics that retain much of their originality. In the past year, or two years, change has been busy in this historic township. The last picture of the “Wayside Inn” gives that ancient hostelry an air unlike what surrounded it when the scroll read: ‘By the Name of Howe’.” “No ghosts would enter the newly-made porch or peer from the modern made windows. The old Walker Garrison House has become an ash heap, a destiny that befell many another farm dwelling in the days of the town’s early history. “The terminal part of the old Hop Brook Road to Marlborough has become, since summer, a ’state highway.’ The road over Sand Hill has become a boulevard and, one by one, the district schoolhouses are disappearing with all their local influence and associations. “But enough has been said to suffice the object of showing the importance of preserving what things of old remain in their primitive condition.”
