Washington at the Wayside Inn Marker

An historical marker placed in front of Sudbury’s Wayside Inn notes that George Washington traveled by this location as he went to assume command of the Continental Army in June of 1775.

The marker’s text recounts the occasion:

WASHINGTON
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.

This historic tavern has other connections to the Revolutionary War. The Howe family, who operated the establishment for five generations, had several members who served in the war, including its second proprietor, Ezekiel Howe. He fought as one of Sudbury’s minute men on April 19th, 1775 and went on to command the Fourth Middlesex Militia thereafter.

Even long after the war, the mythos and legend surrounding the country’s struggle for independence are connected to the tavern. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “Paul Revere’s Ride,” which has become a staple of literary Americana, was published in his 1863 compilation, Tales of a Wayside Inn—the inspiration for the establishment’s current name.