Formerly: Thoreau House (1889–1897) · The Colonial (1897–1900)
Concord, Massachusetts · Founded 1889 · Building: circa 1716
A three-building Concord landmark with a circa-1716 section, Revolutionary-era arms-storehouse history, and hotel operations dating to 1889.
Concord's Colonial Inn is a currently operating hotel, restaurant, and events venue overlooking Monument Square in Concord, Massachusetts. Its oldest section dates to circa 1716, but the property began operating as a small hotel and boarding house in 1889 before the three structures were consolidated as the Colonial Inn in 1897. The inn's history connects the site to Concord's Revolutionary War story and to Henry David Thoreau's Harvard years.
The oldest eastern portion of the present inn complex dates to circa 1716. It began as a private residence rather than a commercial inn.
Source: Historic Hotels of America, Concord's Colonial Inn profile; Lost New England, 'Colonial Inn, Concord, Mass'
According to the inn's history and Historic Hotels of America, one of the original buildings was used to store arms and provisions for the Concord Minutemen during the Revolutionary War.
Source: Concord's Colonial Inn, 'History' page; Historic Hotels of America, Concord's Colonial Inn profile
Independent historical accounts say John Thoreau, grandfather of Henry David Thoreau, purchased a portion of the future inn complex as a private residence.
Source: Lost New England, 'Colonial Inn, Concord, Mass'; The Yankee Express, 'The Colonial Inn in Concord'
Henry David Thoreau lived with family in the future inn complex from 1835 to 1837 while attending Harvard College.
Source: Lost New England, 'Colonial Inn, Concord, Mass'; Walkies Through History, 'Concord's Colonial Inn'; The Yankee Express, 'The Colonial Inn in Concord'
John Maynard Keyes bought the central and eastern buildings and began operating a boarding house and small hotel known as Thoreau House. The inn's official history identifies 1889 as the start of the inn as it is known today.
Source: Concord's Colonial Inn, 'History' page; Lost New England, 'Colonial Inn, Concord, Mass'; Concord's Colonial Inn, Historic Hotels of America profile
Keyes acquired the western house and combined the three structures as the Colonial Inn.
Source: Lost New England, 'Colonial Inn, Concord, Mass'; Concord's Colonial Inn, Historic Hotels of America profile
The inn adopted the name Concord's Colonial Inn.
Source: Concord's Colonial Inn, 'History' page; Walkies Through History, 'Concord's Colonial Inn'
The inn says newlyweds M.P. and Judith Fellenz stayed in Room 24, after which Judith Fellenz wrote the innkeeper describing a gray, shadowy figure in the room. This is the earliest haunting report located in the sources reviewed.
Source: Concord's Colonial Inn, 'Haunted Inn' page; Patch, 'Concord's Colonial Inn One Of US's Most Haunted Hotels'; Little Things Travel, 'A Night of History at Concord's Colonial Inn'
The Syfy series Ghost Hunters featured the Colonial Inn in Season 6, Episode 14, 'A Shot in the Dark.'
Source: Apple TV, Ghost Hunters, Season 6 Episode 14 'A Shot in the Dark'; Prime Video, Ghost Hunters episode listing
Michael and Dorothy Harrington acquired Concord's Colonial Inn in a transaction reported by the Boston Globe and announced as closed by the transaction broker.
Source: Boston Globe, 'Concord's Colonial Inn will have new owners'; PR Newswire, Wason Associates sale announcement
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The circa-1716 date refers to the oldest section of the present three-building complex, which began as a residence. Historic Hotels of America and the inn's official history identify 1889 as the start of hotel operations, so the site did not operate continuously as an inn from 1716.
The inn's official history and Historic Hotels of America both identify one of the original buildings as a storehouse for arms and provisions during the Revolutionary War. This review did not retrieve a contemporaneous military inventory or Committee of Safety record establishing the candidate's more detailed description of weapons, gunpowder, grain, ownership, or exact room use.
Multiple independent historical accounts place Thoreau in the Thoreau family portion of the future inn complex from 1835 to 1837 while he attended Harvard. This review did not retrieve the primary correspondence or land records needed to rate the claim documented.
Later accounts connect Dr. Timothy Minot Jr.'s residence at the site with care for wounded soldiers after the North Bridge fighting. The reviewed sources do not establish that present-day Room 24 was the precise eighteenth-century treatment room or an operating room.
The inn's haunted-history page and multiple later accounts reproduce or summarize Judith Fellenz's letter after a 1966 Room 24 stay. It is the earliest report found during this review, but the review did not exhaustively search local newspapers, guest correspondence, and archival material for earlier reports.
Ghost Hunters featured the Colonial Inn in Season 6, Episode 14, 'A Shot in the Dark,' released September 15, 2010. The episode's existence and visit are documented; paranormal interpretations or alleged findings from the program remain unverifiable.
That a crew visited and filmed is usually easy to verify. What they claim to have captured is a separate, and usually lower-rated, claim.
The episode and the show's visit to the Colonial Inn are documented by television listings. The episode's paranormal framing and any purported audio, visual, or instrument findings do not establish paranormal activity and remain unverifiable.
Everything below has been reported by two or more independent sources — this is an informational record of what's said about this place, not a verified account of paranormal activity. Still Open America doesn't certify hauntings as real.
Room 24 is repeatedly associated with a gray or shadow-like figure that appears beside the bed, moves toward the fireplace, and disappears. The earliest located account is Judith Fellenz's 1966 letter describing that experience after her honeymoon stay.
Guests in Room 24 report lights flickering or switching on, televisions turning on or off, hushed whispers from the closet, and the room door slamming by itself. These recurring reports are commonly treated as one pattern of unexplained Room 24 disturbance.
Reports describe wounded Revolutionary-era soldiers appearing in Room 24, sometimes near a guest's bed, as well as a middle-aged woman identified in lore as a nurse named Rosemary. The figures are reported to vanish soon after being seen.
The reviewed main-entry research did not confirm that present-day Room 24 was the precise Revolutionary War operating room or identify historical records for a nurse named Rosemary.
The inn's haunted-history accounts describe a woman appearing at a desk in a guest room, often as if writing. The figure is listed separately from the Room 24 shadow apparition and is not consistently assigned a historical identity.
Multiple accounts describe a young girl running through or appearing in the hallway near Room 24. Her identity and connection to the property are not consistently explained in the available retellings.
The inn's published ghost lore includes reports of a British Redcoat soldier sitting at the bar. Accounts also place colonial military figures in other parts of the inn, but the bar apparition is a distinct recurring location-based legend.
Reports describe an older woman and a tall, thin man holding a top hat in the inn's sitting room. The pair are presented as a separate apparition story and are not reliably identified in the available sources.
Concord's Colonial Inn has operated continuously as an inn since 1716.
The oldest section of the present complex dates to circa 1716, but the property began hotel operations in 1889. The three-building Colonial Inn configuration dates to 1897, and the current Concord's Colonial Inn name dates to 1900.
Source: Historic Hotels of America, Concord's Colonial Inn profile; Concord's Colonial Inn, 'History' page; Lost New England, 'Colonial Inn, Concord, Mass'
Room 24 is confirmed as the Revolutionary War operating room where Dr. Timothy Minot Jr. treated wounded soldiers.
The reviewed accounts support a broader association between Dr. Timothy Minot Jr.'s residence at the site and treatment of wounded soldiers, but they do not independently establish present-day Room 24 as the exact eighteenth-century treatment room.
Source: Patch, 'Concord's Colonial Inn One Of US's Most Haunted Hotels'; Walkies Through History, 'Concord's Colonial Inn'; Discover Concord, 'A Walk Along Concord's American Mile'
Ghost Hunters covered the inn in Season 6, Episode 11.
Ghost Hunters featured the Colonial Inn in Season 6, Episode 14, 'A Shot in the Dark,' released September 15, 2010.
Source: Apple TV, Ghost Hunters, Season 6 Episode 14 'A Shot in the Dark'; Rotten Tomatoes, Ghost Hunters Season 6 Episode 14
The inn survived because its operators turned several historically significant but separately built properties into a single downtown hospitality destination. Its location near Monument Square and Concord's Revolutionary War and literary landmarks gave the business a durable visitor base, while later owners maintained the property as a lodging, dining, and events venue rather than treating its early building date as the entire story.
Concord's Colonial Inn began operating as a hotel and boarding house in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1889. Its oldest building section dates to circa 1716 and had earlier uses as a residence, while one original building later served as an arms-and-provisions storehouse for Concord Minutemen. John Maynard Keyes combined the third building with the hotel in 1897 as the Colonial Inn, and the business adopted the current Concord's Colonial Inn name in 1900.
No. Concord's Colonial Inn cannot be considered Massachusetts's oldest operating inn on the basis of its circa-1716 building date because its hotel operation began in 1889. The 1716 date belongs to the oldest residential section of a three-building complex, not to uninterrupted innkeeping.
The earliest haunting report located in the sources reviewed dates to 1966, when Judith Fellenz wrote the innkeeper after staying in Room 24 with her husband, M.P. Fellenz. The inn publishes her account of seeing a gray, shadowy figure near her bed and fireplace. That letter documents a guest report, not proof of paranormal activity, and earlier unpublished or unlocated reports cannot be ruled out.
Henry David Thoreau lived in the Thoreau family portion of the future inn complex from 1835 to 1837 while attending Harvard College. At the time it was a private residence, not the commercial inn that began operating in 1889.
Accounts from the inn and Historic Hotels of America say one of the original buildings stored arms and provisions for the Concord Minutemen during the Revolutionary War. Later historical-tour accounts also say wounded soldiers were treated at Dr. Timothy Minot Jr.'s residence at the site, but the exact present-day room associated with that care has not been independently verified in this review.
48 Monument Sq, Concord, MA 01742
(978) 369-9200
Historic Main Inn rooms occupy the older portions of the complex; contact the inn directly if a particular room type or accessibility feature matters to your stay.