B22 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
The 
“Wayside Inn” 
bind 
By Esther Singleton 
The photographs accompanying this article are 
Copyrighted, 1898, by E. R. Lemon 
The Arms of the How family, the original 
proprietors in 1683 
two hundred and twenty-three years of 
ee continuous history as can the “Red Horse 
~\ Tavern” of Sudbury, Mass., twenty-two 
miles from Boston, and immortalized by 
Longfellow as the “Wayside Inn,” prob- 
ably inspired by “The Tabard” and Chau- 
cer’s ‘‘Canterbury Pilgrims.” Those who love to restore the 
people and quaint manners and customs of past centuries in 
places that have legendary, historical or romantic associa- 
tions can find no trace of Chaucer’s hostelry in Southwark 
when they cross London Bridge to visit old and picturesque 
St. Saviour’s, where an older poet than Chaucer—John 
Gower—lies in his richly carved and painted tomb; but the 
traveler who wishes to see a typical American inn of Colo- 
nial and Revolutionary days can happily visit a good speci- 
men at Sudbury. 
Here, too, he may 
picture and people 
the past; for, being 
situated on the old 
Post Road from 
Boston to New 
York, the ‘Way- 
side Inn” has enter- 
tained all sorts and 
conditions of men 
and women. 
Among the noted 
travelers who have 
been guests of ‘“The 
Red Horse”’ may be 
mentioned Judge 
Sewall, the famous 
witchcraft jurist of 
Massachusetts, who 
noted in his diary 
in’ T700)t hat hie 
stopped at How’s 
Tavern in Sudbury. 
General Washing- 
ton was also here on 
several occasions: 
Coach used by General de Lafayette at the laying of the corner-stone of 
Bunker Hill Monument 
Sign of the ‘‘ Wayside Inn”’ 
on his way to take command of the army at Cambridge; 
on his return to the Hudson River; and during his tour in 
New England when President. 
General Burgoyne also rested here when he traveled as 
prisoner from Albany to Boston. Among other noted 
travelers who have enjoyed its hospitality were Madame 
Knight, the Marquis de Lafayette, General Artemas Ward, 
John Adams, John Hancock, Daniel Webster, Rufus Choate, 
and many distinguished men of letters. 
Twice a week the mail coach passed, and the stage brought 
many passengers from time to time. Guests also arrived in 
private carriages and coaches of all descriptions, and upon 
horseback; and in the winter in sleighs of every variety 
from the rude box, or basket, upon runners of the country- 
men to the painted shell of the rich Bostonian, luxurious 
with fur robes and drawn by spirited horses whose harness 
jingled with merry 
silver bells. Sleds 
piled high with dead 
deer and other game 
frozen stiff on the 
way from the hills 
and mountains of 
New York and Ver- 
mont to Boston were 
often stored while 
the huntsmen and 
drivers thawed out 
in the cheerful tap- 
room and refreshed 
themselves with a 
night’s rest. In the 
summer time flocks 
of geese and _tur- 
keys, and droves of 
cattle and hogs 
passed on their way 
to market, or were 
sheltered by their 
drovers in the yards 
at night. Now the 
automobile takes the 
place of the lum- 
August, 1909 
