The Wayside Inn

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The Wayside Inn Its mission promotes early American humanities through hospitality, education, and programming, and continues an innkeeping tradition dating back to 1716.
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A Massachusetts Historic Landmark and nonprofit organization with over 100 acres and nine historic buildings, including the famed Longfellow’s Wayside Inn, believed to be the oldest continually operating inn in the United States dating back to 1716. The Wayside Inn is a nonprofit charitable Massachusetts corporation created in 1944 to own, operate, and maintain the Wayside Inn Historic Site, a campus of 9 historic buildings on more than 100 acres. The site provides an opportunity for visitors from near and far to gather, engage, and find meaning, relevance, and inspiration through a place-based exploration of history.

This weekend at The 1716 B**r Garden at The Wayside Inn!
10/21/2026

This weekend at The 1716 B**r Garden at The Wayside Inn!

Due to today’s gloomy weather, The 1716 B**r Garden at The Wayside Inn will be closed. We’ll be back open tomorrow, Satu...
10/16/2026

Due to today’s gloomy weather, The 1716 B**r Garden at The Wayside Inn will be closed. We’ll be back open tomorrow, Saturday 10/17 with music all day by Dalila 🩷 and Brian Walker and food by Steven Lania. See you then! ☔️ 🎶

10/16/2026

🍺 Places to Go: The Wayside Inn | Sudbury, MA

Some places carry more history than they know what to do with. Longfellow's Wayside Inn in Sudbury is one of them.

What began in 1716 as a simple two-room home on the Old Boston Post Road is now the oldest operating inn in the United States. Ezekiel Howe, the third generation of the innkeeper family, led two companies of Sudbury militia to Concord on April 19, 1775 in answer to Paul Revere's alarm, later serving as Colonel under George Washington. After the war he came back and kept pouring pints until his death in 1796.

In 1862, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow visited and was inspired to write Tales of a Wayside Inn, bringing the property to national significance. A year later, Henry David Thoreau stopped in with his friend Ellery Channing, chatted with a 91-year-old former servant, left their horse and carriage, and walked to nearby Nobscot Hill for what Thoreau called "the best point from which to view the Concord River valley."

In 1923, Henry Ford purchased the Inn and expanded the property to nearly 3,000 acres, adding the Redstone Schoolhouse, a working Grist Mill, and the Martha-Mary Chapel. The central 100+ acre parcel was later placed into a non-profit foundation to preserve the Inn's legacy in perpetuity.

Today, the Inn still offers lodging, New England cuisine, and a pint of ale beneath great oak trees on a majestic historic property.

📍 72 Wayside Inn Road, Sudbury, MA

Plan your visit at freedomsway.org

Have you explored the autumnal grounds of The Grist Mill yet? 🍂
10/16/2026

Have you explored the autumnal grounds of The Grist Mill yet? 🍂

Alright, one last change - we will have a food truck Saturday after all 😂 Thanks Steven Lania for joining us! See you al...
10/15/2026

Alright, one last change - we will have a food truck Saturday after all 😂 Thanks Steven Lania for joining us! See you all this weekend 🍻

Slight change to the schedule! No food trucks this week as of now, but bring your own food or order takeout and make the...
10/15/2026

Slight change to the schedule! No food trucks this week as of now, but bring your own food or order takeout and make the most of the few weekends we have left of the season at The 1716 B**r Garden at The Wayside Inn! 🍻

A rainy fall view at Josephine’s Pond
10/14/2026

A rainy fall view at Josephine’s Pond

Thank you to the MetroWest Daily News for including us in the 2026 Best of the MetroWest Community Choice Awards! We are...
10/14/2026

Thank you to the MetroWest Daily News for including us in the 2026 Best of the MetroWest Community Choice Awards! We are delighted to announce we won Best Wedding Venue - thank YOU to those who voted! We are so gracious for our community who continue to show up and support us time and time again (for 300+ years!). We hope to welcome you here soon. 🫶

Want to learn more about our weddings? Check out The Wayside Inn Weddings for more! 💍 💒

Our fast-selling holiday favorite is back! Join the Christmas Carol Collective for a performance of “A Christmas Carol”,...
10/13/2026

Our fast-selling holiday favorite is back! Join the Christmas Carol Collective for a performance of “A Christmas Carol”, a holiday classic perfect for all ages. Three dates only, get tickets before they sell out at wayside.org/events or call 978 443 1776.

10/12/2026

Check it out now!

Address

72 Wayside Inn Road
Sudbury, MA
01776

Telephone

+19784431776

Website

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