Friday, January 1st, 2010
LONGFELLOW’S WAYSIDE INN
BY DIANE BAIR & PAMELA WRIGHT
COLONIAL TIMES (From
left) The kitchen in the 1920s;
the Tap Room today
KITCHEN AND TAP ROOM: COURTESY LONGFELLOW’S WAYSIDE INN
If you’re visiting New England, why stay at a modern hotel when you can party like it’s 1716? At Longfellow’s Wayside Inn (978-443-1776; wayside.org), 20 miles west of Boston, they’ve been welcoming “man and beast,” as their sign says, for nearly 300 years. Formerly known as Howe’s Tavern, this convivial establishment was immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1863 in Tales of a Wayside Inn, a collection of poems set in a country inn. Even though he only visited for a day, the poet loved the place. “Longfellow was a superstar of his time, so fans, writers and artists came here even though Longfellow never actually slept here,” says Guy LeBlanc, director of museum services.
Today, guests in the wood-beamed Tap Room can almost picture Longfellow sitting beside them, trying to find words that rhyme with “red coat.” (The most famous lines in the book: “Listen, my children, and you shall hear/Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.”) Inn bartenders pour Coow Woows—a mixture of ginger brandy and rum that was concocted in 1664—while the dining room sticks with classic New England fare, such as clam chowder, lobster pie and Indian pudding.
The property itself feels like a living history museum. Tucked around the 120-acre Massachusetts Historic Landmark are museum rooms, a gristmill, a one-room school house and a chapel.
The 10 guest rooms, with hardwood floors and antiques, fit the old-fashioned theme. (Okay, there’s WiFi—but no TV.) And if there is an odd piece of paper tucked into a beam or inside a drawer, it’s not a lapse of housekeeping, but rather the work of the “Secret Drawer Society.” Back in the 1950s, the innkeeper hid candy in the secret compartments of antique desks for children to find, and guests of all ages began leaving little notes about their stay, which continues to this day.
Consider it Tweeting—Colonial-style.
