Sudbury in Middlesex County, Massachusetts — The American Northeast (New England)
Washington at the Wayside Inn
Photographed by Roger W. Sinnott, April 14, 2010
1. Washington Passed This Place Marker
Passed This Place
On His Way to
Cambridge
To Take Command
of the
Patriot Army
June 1775 July
Erected by Old Essex Chapter S.A.R., Lynn, Mass.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Colonial Era • Notable Buildings • Notable Events • Patriots & Patriotism • War, US Revolutionary. In addition, it is included in the Former U.S. Presidents: #01 George Washington series list.
Location. 42° 21.436′ N, 71° 28.138′ W. Marker is in Sudbury, Massachusetts, in Middlesex County. It is on Wayside Inn Road ¼ mile west of Boston Post Road (U.S. 20), on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Sudbury MA 01776, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Greater Boston. It is also in the American Northeast and in New England. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once one of the original Thirteen Colonies.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 4 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Garden in the Woods (approx. 2½ miles away); Sudbury Fight (approx. 2.7 miles away); Hop Brook Mill (approx. 2.7 miles away); Capt. Samuel Wadsworth (approx. 3 miles away); Men of the Sudbury Fight Monument (approx. 3 miles away); Pike Haven Homestead (approx.
this page online
More about this marker. Marker is near the front entrance of the historic Longfellow’s Wayside Inn.
Regarding Washington at the Wayside Inn. Gen. George Washington passed many places during the Revolutionary War, of course, but this inn is significant as the setting for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1863 work, Tales of a Wayside Inn. The inn, originally known as the Howe Tavern, dates from 1716 and was operated by successive innkeepers of the Howe family for nearly a century and a half.
The most famous poem in Longfellow’s collection, called “Paul Revere’s Ride”, begins with these stirring lines:
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year. . . .
Paul Revere’s actions on the night of April 18-19, 1775, to spread the alarm “through every Middlesex village and farm” mark the
Photographed by Roger W. Sinnott, April 14, 2010
2. Wider View Including the Wayside Inn
Also see . . .
1. Longfellow’s Wayside Inn. Inn website homepage:
An account of the inn over three centuries. (Submitted on April 19, 2010, by Roger W. Sinnott of Norwell, Massachusetts.)
2. Tales of a Wayside Inn. Google Books website entry:
Longfellow’s collection of poems, with “Paul Revere’s Ride” starting on page 19. (Submitted on April 19, 2010, by Roger W. Sinnott of Norwell, Massachusetts.)
Additional keywords. Longfellow's Wayside Inn
Photographed by Roger W. Sinnott, April 14, 2010
3. The Sign for the Inn Itself
Longfellow’s Wayside Inn is a popular destination in the town of Sudbury, 20 miles west of Boston.
Photographed by Roger W. Sinnott, April 14, 2010
4. Nearby Grist Mills
Visitors to the inn can also see this restoration, ¼ mile down the road to the west.
Credits. This page was last revised on February 12, 2022. It was originally submitted on April 19, 2010, by Roger W. Sinnott of Norwell, Massachusetts. This page has been viewed 2,664 times since then and 75 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on April 19, 2010, by Roger W. Sinnott of Norwell, Massachusetts. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.
