Wayside Inn Historic District

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Short descriptionTemplate:Template other The Wayside Inn Historic District is a historic district on Old Boston Post Road in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The district contains nine heritage buildings, including 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 and American colonial architecture. The area was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Other structures

Henry Ford built a replica and fully working grist mill 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 Route 20 and now secluded in a wooded area behind private homes is a -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".

The Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside is a 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

• Sign with initials of previous owners of the inn
  Sign with initials of previous owners of the inn
• A marker announcing George Washington's passing through in 1775
  A marker announcing George Washington's passing through in 1775
• The Wayside Inn, c. 1935
  The Wayside Inn, c. 1935
• Martha Mary Chapel
  Martha Mary Chapel
• Redstone School, with the chapel behind
  Redstone School, with the chapel behind
• The inn's grist mill
  The inn's grist mill

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, Massachusetts

External links

• At archive.org, the listing for the so-called "Front door diaries"