☰ Menu

The Red Maple Inn

Spencer, MA  
 

This is not an active listing. Please visit the inns for sale page to search our active listings.

“If These Horsehair Walls Could Talk!
The History of The Red Maple Inn

This estate at 217 Main Street was built in the late eighteenth century, c. 1780, by Major William White. Mr. White was a “patriot to his country,” who served as a “Minuteman” in the early years of the Revolutionary War in battles in Lexington, Cambridge and Boston in 1775. He was a later a Deacon in the Congregational Church, located two doors west of the Inn.

This classically designed Colonial style building is for the most part standing today as it was more than two hundred years ago. During colonial times the building was heated by its eight fireplaces. Water was made available by the well in the basement (now closed), which was installed around 1850 and was considered to be quite a luxury at that time! The estate featured eight spacious rooms with nine foot high ceilings, beautiful ornate crown moldings and hand crafted woodwork. It is well documented that General George Washington visited Spencer on October 22, 1789, during the first year of his Presidency, spending the night at Isaac Jenks’ Tavern which stood at corner of Main Street (the old Boston Post Road) and Pleasant Street. The family lore of this house says that Washington attended a reception given by Major White in what was then, and still is, one of the grand houses of Spencer, 217 Main Street.

The original kitchen, our current dining room, was used for baking in the beehive oven and cooking in the fireplace. The shelving unit, installed in the late 1800s to the right of the fireplace was originally a cooling pantry for the freshly cooked stews and baked goods. There is a false back to the shelving unit which opens to a secret closet. There is some idea that slaves on the “Underground Railroad” may have been hidden here; it was also a likely hiding place for the silver and china while the owners were at their summer home. During the mid-1800s the two L additions were added which were used as kitchens and allowed the house to be used by two families. The addition which is now the kitchen and office area of the Inn was the original stable, which was moved into place. The original beams still show where the stable rails attached. After the two additions, the resulting fifteen rooms and more than four thousand square feet of living space were certainly adequate for two families to be very comfortable.

Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Watson, both descendants of Major White, resided here until the early 1900s, at which time the estate was purchased from the White family by Judge Bolton, a prominent local jurist. The Boltons owned the home until the 1950s. In 2005 the last surviving Bolton daughter, now in her 80s, who was married in this house and threw her bouquet down the main staircase, visited The Red Maple Inn and said her parents would have been very pleased with the care and taste with which the property has been preserved. Although there are certainly grander estates, Major White must have been quite well-to-do to be able to build a home of this size. The current owners are only the fifth family to own the property in more than 225 years!

The Red Maple Inn is ideally located just an hour from Boston and neigboring New England destination cities & towns. Eastern Ma is the antique center of New Engand and host 3 major antique fairs annually.

Buy or Sell:
Bed and Breakfast Inns for Sale
Sell a Bed and Breakfast Inn

Tools and Links:
Inn Marketplace Data Snapshot
Helpful Links for Innkeepers

Contact:
Email Us
Advertising Opportunities

Follow us for new listings: