Not an Inn Anymore
by Carol Lynn Coronios
Title
Not an Inn Anymore
Artist
Carol Lynn Coronios
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
This old inn is an enigma in OId Bennington, VT - the historic area of white colonial homes and picket fences. As Route 9 bends around First Church and its historic graveyard, a seemingly deserted, ramshackle, three story clapboard building is veiled by trees and overgrown, untended bushes. But wait! There's a car in the driveway - and two centuries of history behind those doors.
Elijah Dewey, son of the first pastor of First Church (the quintessential New England Protestant church - white clapboard with towering steeple), bought an acre of land and built an inn in 1764. Dewey's Tavern was the site of many militia meetings during the American Revolution, and the Legislature of the Independent Republic of Vermont met there. In 1791, when Vermont was admitted as the 14th state, Sec'y of State, Thomas Jefferson, and US Representative, James Madison, arrived to join the celebration of statehood. It remained a meeting place for Vermont's governing bodies until 1808.
The tavern was sold in 1818 and new owner, James Hicks, expanded the business as a stagecoach stop between New York City and Boston. Business was so good that he added a third floor, turning part of the second floor into a ballroom.
Two more families owned the inn after Hicks; it continued to be 'the' place to stay and entertain. President Rutherford B. Hayes attended the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Bennington in 1877, and President William H. Harrison celebrated Vermont's centennial in 1891.
In 1896, Walter Berry purchased the Walloomsac Inn (as it was then known), and his family operated the inn until it closed in 1996.
Berry's three granddaughters own the property; at least one lives there. The outward appearance leads to all sorts of speculation - mostly about what it looks like on the inside. Understandably, the women are not interested in hosting throngs of eager tourists. If you are brave - or bold - enough to stop and walk up on the porch, you will be greeted by a sign "This is a private home. It is no longer an inn. Please stay off the porch and property."
Uploaded
August 17th, 2015
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Viewed 436 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/25/2024 at 1:27 AM
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