Wayland's Reeves Tavern One of Five Nominated to National Register

WAYLAND, MA—A Wayland landmark was one of five chosen by the Massachusetts Historical Commission to be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Reeves Tavern farmhouse in Wayland joins the Sargent-Robinson House in Gloucester, the District School No. 4 schoolhouse in Petersham, the M.M. Rhodes & Sons industrial complex in Taunton and the Boston Finishing Works complex in Williamstown.

The nominations will be submitted to the National Register of Historic Places at the National Park Service in Washington, DC, for final consideration and designation, said the announcement.

“The Massachusetts Historical Commission is dedicated to preserving the Commonwealth’s rich historic, architectural, archaeological, and cultural resources,” Secretary Galvin said in a statement. “Inclusion of Reeves Tavern in the National Register will help to preserve a Colonial-period farmhouse and tavern that contains a wealth of historic architectural details.”

Reeves Tavern, 126 Old Connecticut Path, is a well-preserved 18th-century farmhouse that started as a modest, two-room house ca. 1715, and was expanded in 1762-1763 to function as a tavern and residence of the proprietor and his family. The property includes a Colonial-period farmhouse with late 19th-century sheds that connect the house to a large, late 19th-century, New England-style barn.

Reeves Tavern was the home of one of Wayland’s first town fathers, Jacob Reeves, Sr. (1720-1794), who built the tavern. His son, Jacob Reeves, Jr. (1763-1846), was an early Justice of the Peace, and was the next tavern proprietor. In addition to keeping a tavern, a business that was central to the 18th- and early 19th-century development of New England towns, the Reeves family were also successful farmers and helped to shape the town of Wayland.

Located on a major thoroughfare between the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Hartford, Connecticut, Reeves Tavern sheltered many travelers throughout the years, including John Adams when he was Massachusetts representative to the First Continental Congress. In the 19th century, the tavern was the home and property of the third, fourth, and fifth generations of the Reeves family, who also continued to farm. In the early 20th century, the property became one of several local old houses purchased by Boston families as rural retreats, an early 20th-century trend in Wayland and other towns close to Boston. Dr. Joshua C. Hubbard and his family used Reeves Tavern as a retreat until about 1929, when they took up permanent
residence here.

Over its history,the house has been owned by only three families, and retains a remarkable amount of historic fabric. Construction details and decorative finishes reflect each period in which the house was built, expanded, and modified, and include raised-field paneling, wainscoting, board-and-batten, two-panel, four-panel, and six-panel doors, cooking and bakeoven fireplaces, a tavern desk, and swinging walls from 1762 and from ca. 1875. Reeves Tavern is one of five historic resources around the Commonwealth approved for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places by the Massachusetts Historical
Commission at this meeting.

Secretary Galvin serves as Chairman of the 17-member board, which meets regularly and considers historic resources eligible for the National Register four times a year. The National Register is the nation’s official listing of significant historic resources.

In Massachusetts, there are more than 70,000 properties listed in the National Register. The Massachusetts Historical Commission has been administering the National Register of Historic Places program in Massachusetts since 1966.

The Massachusetts Historical Commission is the office of the State Historic Preservation Officer and the State Archaeologist. It was established in 1963 to identify, evaluate, and protect important historical and archaeological assets of the Commonwealth.

Information supplied by the Massachusetts Historical Commission