Washington at the Wayside Inn

An historical marker placed in front of Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in Sudbury notes that General George Washington traveled past this location, then called the Red Horse Tavern, on his way to assume command of the Continental Army in June 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 Revolution. The How Family (spelled Howe after the 18th century), who operated the establishment across five generations, had several members who served in the war, including its second proprietor, Ezekiel How. He served as Lieutenant Colonel of Sudbury’s South Militia under Captain Moses Stone and led the company to Concord on April 19, 1775. How went on to command the 4th Middlesex Regiment as colonel from May 1776 to February 1779.

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,” a staple of literary Americana, was published in his 1863 compilation, Tales of a Wayside Inn—the inspiration for the establishment’s current name.