A History of Longfellow's Wayside Inn

Book excerpt: Longfellow's Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts, is the most venerable of all the old historic taverns still operating in America. Built three hundred years ago by the How family, it has witnessed Indian affairs, colonial wars and the coming of the stagecoach, railroad and automobile. The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow immortalized it in verse with his 1863 collection Tales of a Wayside Inn, suddenly making it a desired destination for travelers. Longfellow's romanticized description of the inn later so inspired Henry Ford that he purchased and restored the building and its surrounding three thousand acres. Join author Brian Plumb as he traverses the highways of New England's history to discover the stories of Longfellow's Wayside Inn.