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Buckman Tavern

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c. 1713–1764. 1 Bedford St.
  • Buckman Tavern (Keith Morgan)

Best known for its association with the battle on April 19, 1775, as the place where the Minutemen, including innkeeper John Buckman, assembled to await the arrival of British troops, Buckman Tavern is a classic example of evolutionary growth typical of surviving colonial buildings. From its beginnings about 1713 as a two-story half-house with lean-to, the building was enlarged in four successive stages before 1764 to its present four-room plan and raised hipped roof with dormer windows. The resulting Georgian-style building is illustrated in the famous Amos Doolittle prints (1775) of the battle. The Lexington Historical Society acquired Buckman Tavern in 1913, restored the interiors, and added a doorway similar to one shown in old photos. The tiny early-nineteenth-century Garrity House (9 Hancock Street) with the Federal-style carriage house adjacent are surviving members of a complex of six or more farm buildings that surrounded Buckman Tavern in the 1800s, when the property was part of the extensive Merriam Farm.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Keith N. Morgan
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Data

What's Nearby

Lexington Green
General Samuel Chandler House
Hancock School
Munroe Hill
Munroe Tavern and Sanderson House

Citation

Keith N. Morgan, "Buckman Tavern", [Lexington, Massachusetts], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MA-01-LX10.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Massachusetts

Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, Keith N. Morgan, with Richard M. Candee, Naomi Miller, Roger G. Reed, and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009, 442-442.

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