Interested in a Patriot’s Day related day trip? Head a little west of Concord and Lincoln to Sudbury and you’ll find a corner of Revolutionary-era Massachusetts.
The Wayside Inn began as How’s Tavern in 1716 and is still serving people today, though the Boston Post Road has a modern bypass around the Inn. David How had a good business, as the tavern was mid-way between Boston and Worcester, and made a good stopping point. His son, Ezekiel, led the Sudbury militia to Concord at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, on April 19, 1775.
Many years later, in 1923, Henry Ford bought the inn, and added a working grist mill and the Martha-Mary Chapel. The grist mill has walking paths around it, the mill-
pond, and down the river to the inn and the chapel. You can find re-enactors practicing on the paths around the inn. If you’re lucky, you can find the grist mill working, and get freshly ground cornmeal. Just west of the mill, on the Boston Post Road, is the Wayside Country Store and its pen
ny candy store.
When I was a kid a favorite family outing was to the penny candy store and then a picnic at the grist mill. My grandmother would give us a mug of spare change for doing chores, and we would hoard it until we could fill our white paper sacks with candy.
The penny candy has gone up to a nickel, but the store is still there. The creaky floors and pickle barrel haven’t changed much. There are still ducks and geese in the pond out back, and sometimes a swan or two stops by.
It’s still a nice spot to visit and have a picnic.
s, and co-workers for years. I’m giving them a break and blithering in this blog.