The Bay State Monthly — Volume 1, No. 1, January, 1884Various
History
The Bay State Monthly — Volume 1, No. 1, January, 1884
Various
Massachusetts -- Periodicals; New England -- Periodicals
The first landlord of the Ridge Hill tavern was Levi Parker, noted for
his hospitality. He was afterward deputy-sheriff of Middlesex County,
and lived in Westford. He was followed, for a short time, by John
Stevens, and then by John H. Loring, who conducted the house during many
years, and was succeeded by his son Jefferson. After him came Henry L.
Lawrence, who kept it during one year; he was followed by his
brother-in-law, Moses Gill, who took the tavern in April, 1837, and kept
it just five years. When Mr. Gill gave up the house, he was followed by
one Langdon for a short time, and he in turn by Kimball Farr as the
landlord, who had bought it the year previously, and who remained in
charge until 1868. During a part of the time when the place was managed
by Mr. Farr; his son Augustus was associated with him. Mr. Farr sold the
tavern to John Fuzzard, who kept it for a while, and is still the owner
of the property. He was followed by Newell M. Jewett; the present
landlord is Stephen Perkins, a native of York, Maine, who took it in
1880. The house had been vacant for some years before this time. A fair
is held here regularly on the first Tuesday of every month, for the sale
of horses, and buyers are attracted from a long distance. At one time
this property was owned by Judge Samuel Dana, who sold it to John H.
Loring.
As early as the year 1798 there was a tavern about a mile from the
Ridges, toward Groton. It was kept by Stephen Farrar, in the house now
standing near where the brook crosses the Great Road. Afterward one
Green was the landlord. The house known as the Levi Tufts place in this
neighborhood was an inn during the early part of this century, conducted
by Tilly Buttrick. Also about this time, or previously, the house
situated south of Indian Hill, and occupied by Charles Prescott,--when
the map in Mr. Butler's History was made,--was an inn. There was a
tavern kept from the year 1812 to 1818 by a Mr. Page, in Mr. Gerrish's
house, near the Unitarian church in the village. There was also a
tavern, near the present paper-mills of Tileston and Hollingsworth, kept
for many years (1825-55) by Aaron Lewis, and after him for a short time
by one Veazie. It was originally the house of John Capell, who owned the
sawmill and gristmill in the immediate neighborhood. Amos Adams had an
inn near Squannacook, a hundred years ago, in a house now owned by James
Kemp.
Just before and during the Revolution a tavern was kept by George
Peirce, in the south part of the town, within the present limits of
Ayer. This landlord was probably the inn-holder of Littleton, whose name
appears in The Massachusetts Gazette, of August 8, 1765. The house was
the one formerly owned by the late Calvin Fletcher, and burned March 25,
1880. It was advertised for sale, as appears from the following
advertisement in The Boston Gazette, September 27, 1773:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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