Haunted Pubs of New England

by Roxie Zwicker

  A ghost hunter is said to have visited the inn after hearing the mysterious tales. He said that he experienced one of the strongest paranormal energy fields that he had ever felt. His belief was that the most energy in the inn was coming from room two. He was not aware of the locations of the specific incidents, but he was soon informed that it was room two where most the ghostly activity had taken place.

  Two late-night guests relayed one of the most unusual events that took place at the inn. As the story goes, there was a cancelled reservation for room three. In the morning, Mr. Barwick noticed three people he did not recognize coming down the stairs. He had met all of the guests that were staying in the inn the previous day. After talking to the unidentified guests, he learned that they had arrived at the inn in the middle of the night and that they had spent the night in room three. Apparently they had been directed to stay in that room by an older lady wearing a long dress with her hair up in a bun. Mr. Barwick remains a little skeptical about the ghostly incidents, but up to this point he hasn’t come up with an explanation for that night. Perhaps Nettie is still assisting weary travelers to their rooms at the former tavern.

  When in Waterbury, don’t miss the Cold Hollow Cider Mill, located at 3600 Waterbury-Stowe Road on Route 100. You will find that their apple products and cider are must-haves. Upon your return to the Old Stagecoach Inn, lift your glass in a toast to your ghostly hostess, Nettie Spencer.

  THE NORWICH INN, NORWICH

  Located in the scenic Connecticut River Valley, Norwich, Vermont, is surrounded by lush hillside country with white churches and expansive farms. In the fall, when leaves are at their peak, you will see the scenic vistas transformed into bold, vibrant oceans of red, gold and orange. The changing of the seasons against the brilliant blue skies in Vermont is truly unforgettable. Imagine people enjoying these views hundreds of years ago, as they took long stagecoach rides down winding country roads toward their destinations.

  Travelers have been arriving at the Norwich Inn since 1797. The tavern went by many names, such as the Union House, the Newton Inn, the Curtis Hotel and the Norwich Hotel. Guests seeking to warm themselves by the fire and enjoy a good home-cooked meal found all that and more at the welcoming tavern. Many of the guests were passing through as they made their way toward the famed White Mountain region.

  One of the tavern’s claims to fame was that it was the first tavern in Vermont to entertain a government official—none other than President James Monroe, who visited in 1817 while on a horseback tour of the New England frontier. He addressed the townspeople and enjoyed a fine dinner and accommodations at the tavern. Some years later in 1843, Vice President Richard M. Johnson was also a guest, and the people held a wonderful reception in his honor. The tavern served as the town’s meetinghouse from 1856 until 1939.

  Unfortunately, a devastating fire in 1889 destroyed the inn, as well as other neighboring structures. The innkeeper Dr. W.S. Bowles decided to rebuild in 1890. The new building was done in the Victorian style and was built on the foundation of the original tavern. A large wraparound porch adds to the grandness of the newly renamed Newton Inn.

  The inn changed hands in 1920, and Charles and Mary Walker changed the name back to the Norwich Inn. Mary, also known as “Ma Walker,” became quite popular with the local townsfolk during Prohibition. She kept everyone happily hydrated by maintaining the property’s tradition of a tavern. She sold bootleg libations from the basement quite successfully. In fact, there are a series of drawings and cartoons in the hotel register from the day, depicting the local Dartmouth College students holding mugs of ale high. Ma Walker continued to run the inn even after her husband’s death, until health concerns forced her to sell in the mid-1930s.

  The property underwent a number of changes, keeping up with the styles of the day and allowing for modern updates to the property as the years passed. What was once a garage for automobiles was converted into a motor lodge in the 1950s, when motor inns were springing up alongside America’s highways. Trends can’t really stand up to the traditional feel of the inn, so in 1991, owners Sally and Tim Wilson decided to bring back the Victorian elegance of the historical days of the nineteenth century.

  The Wilsons also had new and exciting ideas to connect the tavern to the past. Tim is a history buff and a home brewer and was aware of the brewing roots of the inn. The Wilsons thought it made great sense economically, personally and philosophically to resurrect that tradition in the modern era. So in 1993, Jasper Murdock’s Alehouse began producing traditional English-style ales in five-gallon glass jugs. The brewery is located in a renovated livery building on the property. It was part of a complex of buildings that cared for horses—and later cars—of the guests. The building was literally picked up, rotated ninety degrees and set on a modern foundation with full basement to accommodate brewing.

  Their list of brewed offerings is creative, smartly named and delicious. The Whistling Pig Red Ale is Jasper Murdock’s flagship ale, as well as the most popular and best-selling beer. It is inspired by an Irish classic ale. The ale is garnet in color, with a rounded malt flavor and a lingering hop aftertaste. They also offer the Oh Be Joyful Ale, which is steeped in local history. It is said that Vermont’s soldiers in the Civil War used this name for the often frightful concoctions they fermented from hardtack and other camp supplies. They used the moniker as an invitation. Despite its earlier incarnation, it is a classic English mild ale, light and refreshing with very few bitter hops. Dr. Bowles’ Elixir is named for the former innkeeper and dentist who owned the inn at the time of the great fire and proceeded to rebuild. This hearty amber brew, laced with Belgian crystal malt and smartly hopped with Norwich Inn hops, is a salute to his Yankee gumption.

  Innkeeper Tiffany Gershon tells me that if you would like a brewery tour, see if the lights are on in the windows. If there is a Volvo wagon parked out front, you’ll know that the brewer is in and all are welcome for tours. Jasper Murdock’s Ales are crafted from fine English malts, with hops grown in England and in the hop garden at the inn. Because filtration can strip flavor and body from a beer, the ale yeast is allowed to settle out naturally in an extended cold-aging period to ensure that all the goodness reaches your palate. The beer is then pumped underground from the beer cellars to the pub at the inn, or packaged in jumbo twenty-two-ounce bottles for sale in the Bottle Shop.

  Making an occasional appearance at the inn and tavern these days is “Ma Walker.” She has been known to turn faucets off and on and play hide-and-seek with items about the inn. She has been seen in the library and the parlor, disappearing quickly. Sometimes the shades are mysteriously adjusted with no explanation. Perhaps she prefers to move about in the shadows. She has been described as a lovely woman wearing a distinctive long black skirt. Some say that Mary’s spirit still resides at the inn because she is atoning for the sin of what she did during Prohibition. Maybe Ma Walker still makes her appearance because she is watching over Tim’s alehouse or watering the growing hop flowers on the property, ensuring a successful brewing legacy.

  A TALE OF TWO TAVERNS

  I feel so fortunate to have been able to visit these places and learn of their ghostly inhabitants and compelling histories. Maybe someday in the future when this book is taken off of a dusty shelf, these wonderful places will all still be standing for us to visit and learn from—and maybe to have a spectral encounter, as well.

  I thought that I would conclude our journey by taking a look at two eighteenth-century taverns in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, that both shared an uncertain future. However, they make a statement about the crossroads where history and modern progress meet, and in both cases, their mysterious pasts have helped to save them for future generations.

  The William Pitt Tavern, located on Court Street, was built in 1766 by John Stavers and was the stagecoach stop for those who were traveling along the road from Boston to Portsmouth. It operated under the sign of the Earl of Halifax. John’s brother, Bartholomew, was the regular stagecoach drive
r. Swift and comfortable travel was promised for both passengers and packages. During the Revolution, this was the place where the British Loyalists met. One afternoon, a group of the Sons of Liberty banded together to pay a visit to the tavern, as they had discovered that this was a meeting place for the British Loyalists. They called John Stavers out of the tavern to declare his position in the impending conflict. He quickly escaped out the back door, but not before sending his slave out to quiet the angry mob. The Revolutionary fervor had built into quite a frenzy, and some of the group proceeded to chop down the tavern sign with an axe. As John’s slave, James, attempted to defend the tavern, one of the Sons was knocked unconscious with the axe. The man recovered a short time later. The windows were broken in the tavern, and Stavers returned two weeks later to find the tavern in a bit of a shambles. There were many opinions about Stavers and his position, but eventually he renamed his tavern the William Pitt Tavern—in honor of the British statesman who advocated the American cause in Parliament—and his favorable reputation in the community was reestablished. In 1797 John Stavers died in a carriage accident.

  The sign for the Earl of Halifax Tavern, in Portsmouth.

  There is a historic plaque on the side of the tavern that declares George Washington visited the tavern. There has been some speculation as to whether he stayed overnight or if he just visited the tavern for another reason. The third floor of the tavern became the first Mason’s Lodge in the state of New Hampshire. No one is really sure exactly what is discussed during their meetings. It is said that there is a little bit of ceremony and a little bit of religion and even more mystery. Speaking to some of the Masons, they told me that George Washington was one of the first Masons and that he attended one of the lodge meetings at the tavern. What the topic of discussion was that night might never be known, especially because all of the tavern patrons couldn’t hear through the ceiling. The Masons had installed what was called a floating floor. The floor actually didn’t float, but it was quite unique. In between the beams in the floor it was filled with beach sand, which was used as a soundproofing element.

  Years passed and the old tavern became a rooming house and then a tenement house in the twentieth century. I found a series of photographs taken of the property in the 1960s by the Library of Congress, and the building was nothing more than a run-down shack. It seemed the memories of the historic tavern had gotten lost along the way. It wasn’t until the 1980s that the restoration of the building was completed with major assistance from the Masons. They greatly assisted in the resurrection of the building, along with the preservationists from the Strawbery Banke Museum. Today the Masons hold their meetings on the third floor. During reconstruction they rebuilt the floating floor and their meetings are still a bit of a mystery. A local psychic toured the building and claimed that she “saw” people in eighteenth-century dress passing through the walls of the old tavern. She felt the atmosphere was happy and jovial and the spirits enjoyed being there.

  During the 1750s, James Stoodley served in the French and Indian War, and in 1761 he built what was called Stoodley’s Tavern. This beautiful building, with twenty-four paned windows and a gambrel roof also included a long ballroom on the third floor. Stoodley hosted many meetings of the locals, and there are documented auctions that took place. During these auctions, enslaved Africans were sold in 1762 and 1767, along with barrels of rum and bags of cotton. Local legend states that there were two rooms constructed underneath the tavern in which the slaves were kept for auction. The Revolutionaries regularly met at the tavern, and soon an occurrence put the tavern in the history books. Before Paul Revere made his famous ride to Lexington and Concord declaring the “British are coming,” he road to Stoodley’s Tavern in December of 1774. His message was that a British warship was coming up the coast to secure munitions at nearby Fort William and Mary. The patriots rallied and raided the fort and obtained the powder and cannon from the six British soldiers. These were later used in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Many consider that the first overt act of the American Revolution. Stoodley’s son-in-law inherited the tavern, and it went on to be a residential home for many years. In the twentieth century it was converted into a restaurant and appliance store, which drastically changed the original look of the tavern.

  A major restoration restored the William Pitt Tavern to its eighteenth-century glory.

  Stoodley’s Tavern was saved from urban renewal.

  Progress and urban renewal put the tavern in danger in 1964. Despite the fact that the building was in good condition, an announcement was made that the tavern was slated for demolition to make way for the new federal office building and post office. The two neighboring buildings, also from the eighteenth century, were part of the demolition plan. Two weeks before the demolition of Stoodley’s was to begin, someone recognized the building’s historic significance and proposed that the building be cut in half and brought by two flatbed trucks down to Strawbery Banke, where it stands today. The two neighboring historic homes had no one to come to their rescue, and they were demolished. In 1996, Strawbery Banke restored the old tavern and opened it as a youth information and learning center on Hancock Street. At the time of this writing, the federal building is slated for demolition in the near future. Nearly all of the operations have moved over to Pease International Tradeport. No one is sure what will be built in its place. A parking garage and condominiums have been proposed.

  Without these buildings we wouldn’t have stories to tell. Tales of their ghostly inhabitants and history help to keep their legacies and legends alive. This would have been quite a different book if I had only visited cellar holes and vacant lots. What other mysteries and ghost stories will we hear in the future from Stoodley’s Tavern and the William Pitt Tavern? Luckily we have those buildings to appreciate and explore for all that they can tell us of a historical and supernatural nature.

  Well, I hope that you have enjoyed your journey through some of New England’s haunted pubs and taverns. Perhaps your little neighborhood corner pub has a few stories of its own to tell. Ask yourself a few questions to get started. Is it a historic building? What sort of past does it have? Have there been any strange unexplained happenings? Did that cool breeze that whooshed by your chair come from an open window, or did you turn around to find all of the windows closed? Be open to the possibilities, and you might be surprised at what you’ll find.

  Raise a toast to the spirits of the past, as they’re all around us. Cheers!

  RESOURCES

  CONNECTICUT

  Pettibone Tavern

  4 Hartford Road

  Simsbury, CT 06089

  www.pettibonetavern.com

  MAINE

  Captain Lindsey House

  Number Five Lindsey Street

  Rockland, ME 04841

  www.lindseyhouse.com

  Coach Stop Inn

  715 Acadia Highway

  Bar Harbor, ME 04609

  www.coachstopinn.com

  Jameson Tavern

  115 Main Street

  Freeport, ME 04032

  www.jamesontavern.com

  MASSACHUSETTS

  Blanchard’s Tavern

  98 North Main Street

  Avon, MA 02322

  www.blanchardstavern.com

  The Sun Tavern

  500 Congress Street Route 14

  Duxbury, MA 02332

  www.thesuntavern.com

  Kimball Tavern

  2 Salem Street

  Bradford, MA 01835

  Stone’s Public House

  (John Stone Tavern)

  179 Main Street

  Ashland, MA 01721

  www.stonespublichouse.com

  Old Yarmouth Inn & Tavern

  223 Route 6A

  Yarmouthport, MA 02675

  www.oldyarmouthinn.com

  Captain Bearse House

  (Squire Doane Tavern)

  450 Route 6A

  Yarmouthport, MA 02675

  www.captainbearsehouse.com
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br />   The Crocker Tavern House

  3095 Old Kings Highway

  Barnstable, MA 02630

  www.crockertavern.com

  The Duck Creeke Tavern

  70 Main Street

  Wellfleet, MA 02667

  www.innatduckcreeke.com

  NEW HAMPSHIRE

  The Firehall Pub

  Station One

  32 West Broadway

  Derry, NH 03038

  www.thefirehallpub.com

  The Common Man Tavern

  (Hannah Jack’s)

  304 Daniel Webster Highway

  Merrimack, NH 03054

  www.thecman.com

  Molly Malone’s Irish Pub

  177 State Street

  Portsmouth, NH 03801

  www.mollymalonesnh.com

  Country Tavern

  452 Amherst Street

  Nashua, NH 03063

  www.countrytavern.org

  Blaser’s Fireside Tavern

  157 Main Street

  Hopkinton, NH 03229

  www.firesidetavern.com

  Three Chimneys Inn

  (Ffrost Sawyer Tavern)

  17 Newmarket Road

  Durham, NH 03824

  www.threechimneysinn.com

  RHODE ISLAND

  Tavern on Main

  (Stagecoach Tavern)

  1157 Putnam Pike

  Chepachet, RI 02814

  www.tavernonmainri.com

  The White Horse Tavern

  26 Marlborough Street

  Newport, RI 02840

  www.whitehorsetavern.com

  VERMONT

  Old Stagecoach Inn

  18 N. Main Street

  Waterbury, VT 05676

  The Norwich Inn

  325 Main Street

  Norwich, VT 05055

  www.norwichinn.com

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Cacioppo, Nancy. Ghosts, Myths and Legends—As told to the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth. Yarmouth, MA: Historical Society of Yarmouth Publishers, 2006.