Formerly: Howe Tavern · Red Horse Tavern
Sudbury, Massachusetts · Founded 1716 · Building: circa 1702–1703
A Sudbury inn with a licensed hospitality lineage to 1716, made famous by Longfellow and restored after a devastating 1955 fire.
Longfellow's Wayside Inn in Sudbury traces its licensed innkeeping history to David Howe, who received permission in 1716 to keep a house of entertainment for travelers. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow visited in 1862 and turned the site into a national literary landmark with his 1863 Tales of a Wayside Inn. Henry Ford purchased the property in 1923, and the nonprofit Wayside Inn Foundation has owned and operated the historic site since 1944.
Sudbury selectmen granted David Howe a license to keep a house of entertainment for travelers, establishing the documented start of the innkeeping operation.
Source: Freedom's Way National Heritage Area, "Longfellow's Wayside Inn"
The inn was known as the Red Horse Tavern under Ezekiel Howe; published accounts differ on the exact year the name was adopted.
Source: The New York Times, "Back in Business; Old Wayside Inn, Rebuilt After Fire" (May 25, 1958); Freedom's Way National Heritage Area
George Washington passed the then-Red Horse Tavern on his way to Cambridge to assume command of the Continental Army; the record reviewed does not establish that he stayed there.
Source: Freedom's Way National Heritage Area, "Washington at the Wayside Inn"
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow visited the inn, an experience linked to his later Tales of a Wayside Inn.
Source: Fifty Plus Advocate, "Sudbury's Wayside Inn is still attracting visitors centuries later" (April 30, 2024)
Longfellow published Tales of a Wayside Inn, establishing the literary association from which the inn later took its present name.
Source: The Wayside Inn Foundation announcement reported by Patch (September 3, 2019)
Henry Ford purchased the inn and surrounding property as part of his plan for a living museum of Americana.
Source: American Heritage, "Wayside Inn"; Freedom's Way National Heritage Area
Ford transferred the inn and related historic property to the nonprofit organization now known as The Wayside Inn Foundation.
Source: The Wayside Inn Foundation; Freedom's Way National Heritage Area
A major fire devastated the inn, causing a closure and extensive restoration project.
Source: The New York Times, "Longfellow's Wayside Inn Is Ravaged by Fire" (December 23, 1955)
The restored Wayside Inn reopened after the Ford Foundation provided a $500,000 rebuilding grant.
Source: The New York Times, "Back in Business; Old Wayside Inn, Rebuilt After Fire" (May 25, 1958)
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The inn has a documented hospitality lineage to David Howe's 1716 tavern license and is widely described as one of the nation's oldest operating inns. However, a destructive 1955 fire closed the inn until its 1958 reopening, and older national contenders make an unqualified continuously operating national title indefensible on the sources reviewed.
The Wayside Inn archivist stated in 2024 that neither Washington nor Lafayette stayed at the inn; both passed by it. A historical marker supports Washington's passage past the then-Red Horse Tavern in June 1775, but not a lodging claim.
Longfellow visited in 1862, and his 1863 Tales of a Wayside Inn made the property nationally famous. The inn later adopted the Longfellow's Wayside Inn name because of that association.
Jerusha Howe is the central figure in the inn's ghost folklore, and modern accounts repeat stories of her presence in the historic rooms. The review did not locate a primary contemporary record proving an apparition, the specific sensory reports, or the earliest date the legend entered print.
The December 1955 fire badly damaged the inn and interrupted operations, but the property was restored with Ford Foundation support and reopened on June 7, 1958.
The entire present inn was built in 1716 and remains wholly original colonial timber.
The 1716 date refers to David Howe's license to operate a house of entertainment. The house that became the inn is generally dated circa 1702–1703, and the inn suffered major fire damage in December 1955 before reopening after restoration in 1958.
Source: Freedom's Way National Heritage Area, "Longfellow's Wayside Inn"; Fifty Plus Advocate (April 30, 2024); The New York Times (December 23, 1955; May 25, 1958)
George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette stayed overnight at the inn.
The inn's archivist says Washington and Lafayette passed by the inn but did not stay there. A historical marker supports Washington's passage by the Red Horse Tavern in June 1775.
Source: Fifty Plus Advocate, "Sudbury's Wayside Inn is still attracting visitors centuries later" (April 30, 2024); Freedom's Way National Heritage Area, "Washington at the Wayside Inn"
The inn has operated continuously without interruption since 1716.
The innkeeping lineage begins with a 1716 license, but the main inn suffered a destructive fire in December 1955 and reopened in June 1958 after restoration.
Source: The New York Times, "Longfellow's Wayside Inn Is Ravaged by Fire" (December 23, 1955); The New York Times, "Back in Business; Old Wayside Inn, Rebuilt After Fire" (May 25, 1958)
The Wayside Inn endured because each era supplied a new reason to preserve it: roadside hospitality on the Boston Post Road, Longfellow's literary fame, Ford's preservation ambitions, and later nonprofit stewardship. Its recovery from the 1955 fire was a major institutional effort rather than evidence of uninterrupted operation, making restoration—and not simple age—the key to its survival story.
Longfellow's Wayside Inn began its documented innkeeping history in 1716, when Sudbury licensed David Howe to keep a house of entertainment for travelers. The property became known as Howe Tavern and later the Red Horse Tavern before Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1863 Tales of a Wayside Inn made it a literary landmark. Henry Ford bought the site in 1923, and The Wayside Inn Foundation has owned and operated it since 1944.
Longfellow's Wayside Inn is among Massachusetts's oldest operating inns and has a documented licensed hospitality lineage to 1716. It should not be described as continuously operating without qualification: the major December 1955 fire closed the inn until it reopened in 1958. A definitive statewide or national oldest title requires comparison with other candidates and clearer continuity evidence.
No reliable record reviewed here shows that George Washington stayed at Longfellow's Wayside Inn. A historical marker records that he passed the then-Red Horse Tavern in June 1775 while traveling to Cambridge to take command of the Continental Army, and the inn's archivist says Washington only passed by.
This review did not verify the earliest published report that Longfellow's Wayside Inn was haunted. Modern accounts associate its ghost tradition with Jerusha Howe, known as the Belle of Sudbury, and one later retelling says the rumors predate 1868, but a primary dated source is needed before assigning that claim an origin date.
72 Wayside Inn Rd, Sudbury, MA 01776
978-443-1776
Overnight accommodations are currently available by reservation; the historic site also includes the Martha-Mary Chapel, Redstone Schoolhouse, and grist-mill complex.