The town of Chesterfield recently welcomed a new museum after nearly a decade of work from the local historical society. The Stone House Tavern Museum, off Route 9, preserves much of the town’s history, starting in the 1800s.
True to its name, the Stone House Tavern’s main building is built from aged stone, with four brick chimneys jutting out from the roof.
The word “tavern” might evoke images of raucous nights of drinking, but Pam Walton, vice president of the Chesterfield Historical Society, said the Stone House was a place of temperance, where gossip and stories could be exchanged in an era before modern technology. Horse drawn stagecoaches would transport patrons to Chesterfield for a night or two at the tavern.
“This was their only means of knowing what was happening in the outside world,” Walton said. “The stagecoach would bring people to be able to tell them what was happening elsewhere.”
Its first floor beckons with a meeting room, a ladies room, a fireplace and a kitchen. Upstairs, there’s lodging for weary travelers.
Walton said these kinds of community spaces outside the home and workplace are harder to find these days.
“We used to have it back in the 1950s and 60s. I used to see it at the post office here in town…” Walton said. “People would come and stand for 45 minutes to an hour and talk and then go next door and continue their conversations as they walk through the market. But it's not something that I can think of as the case, except perhaps at our coffeehouses.”
The historical society managed to secure some of those little postal boxes from the 1950s. They’re part of a replica of a local general store on the first floor of the museum where kids can play and imagine that kind of community space.
Members of the community donated other pieces of local history to furnish the space. There are historical photos of a nearby camp, textiles, and furniture from the late 1800s, including a set of chairs that used to sit in the chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The second story houses what Walton said would’ve been the main attraction of the building: the ballroom. Among the high ceilings and rich blue walls, there’s a small bandstand for live music. The floor boards were essentially woven, almost spring-loaded, for dancing.
“Your knees would be better off at the end of the evening,” Walton said.
The third floor houses several tiny sleeping quarters, just big enough for a bed and meager storage space, where those passing through could crash for the night. Walton and her colleagues dressed up the spaces with props like bedrolls and blankets. With little use for that kind of space today, Walton said it’s remarkable the third floor was preserved by the previous owners and not renovated for modern life.
The idea to purchase the historic building initially arose in the 1990s, when it would’ve gone for $650,000. But the society only has a budget of about $10,000 a year. Walton said it felt like the project was never going to happen. Then, years later, the owner dropped the price and the historical society decided to go for it.
“We are not a wealthy town of people,” Walton said. “People support it, yes, but I didn't see how it was going to happen. And then we found out about grants. So that's where things have gone. And many generous people [took] us here.”
Several state and federal grants were key to making the project possible, including through LCHIP, or the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program. Community members and businesses also stepped up with donations, including a charitable Keene thrift store. Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, who has local ties, even helped them secure a grant with a video testimonial.
But with funding cuts at the federal and state levels, Walton says the future of these kinds of historic preservation projects are uncertain.
“Without organizations like [LCHIP], it's very difficult to bring to fruition a project like this,” Walton said.
The grants paid for renovations and safety upgrades. Historical Society member Val Starbuck and her husband, both of whom had careers in construction, were key in making that happen.
“We perceive this as a total labor of love…” Starbuck said. “And this building is so magnificent in terms of its unique features and the structure. It just had to be saved, had to be preserved.”
On their rainy opening day in June, a number of locals came from the Chesterfield School to check out the tavern. Among them were kids who were even granted extra credit in school for their curiosity. Walton said she envisions field trips being a regular part of their programming in the future.
For Walton and other members of the historical society, the Stone House Tavern Museum is key for passing on Chesterfield’s history to new generations, as the last of the direct knowledge of Chesterfield during the 1800s is waning. One of the members of the historical society had a grandfather who drove stagecoaches to the tavern.
“Those things are going to end soon,” Walton said. “They're all in their 90s, and we've got to do our best to collect that information. And we have a lot of it.”
The Stone House Tavern Museum is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It has a wheelchair accessible lift for the first floor.
