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Parker Tavern

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c. 1725. 103 Washington St.
  • Parker Tavern (Keith Morgan)

With its long sloping saltbox roof and central chimney, the shingled Parker Tavern typifies a substantial early-eighteenth-century farmhouse. Although built by Deacon Nathaniel Stow, the most distinguished owner was Colonel Ebenezer Nichols, an officer who fought in several campaigns during the French and Indian War. Ephraim Parker, from whom the name is derived, operated a tavern here during the Revolution. In 1923 the Reading Anti-quarian Society acquired the property for a museum. Removal of nineteenth-century lath and plaster revealed original fireplaces, wainscot, and ceiling beams. In 1964, the society added a small wing for the caretaker of the house. The western orientation of the house suggests that it may have been moved.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Keith N. Morgan
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Data

What's Nearby

Boston & Maine Railroad Depot
Reading Senior Center (Reading Municipal Building)
Dr. Horace Wakefield Octagon
Reading Common
Samuel Pierce Organ Factory

Citation

Keith N. Morgan, "Parker Tavern", [Reading, Massachusetts], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MA-01-RD6.

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, 391-391.

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