Two Tannery Road History
The building at "Two Tannery Road" is quite authentically old, and as with most old buildings, it has a unique history to mirror its charm.
In the late 1700s, the building was moved, stick by stick, from Marlboro, Massachusetts and is reputedly the oldest frame building in the town of Dover. It was then situated on the lower acreage of what used to be the "Snowbrook Inn" and was then known as the "Grout Place".
In the early 1900s, the property was bought by President Theodore Roosevelt's son and daughter-in-law. She has vividly recounted her family's adventures there (including bear hunting) in her biography. According to local residents with
keen memories, and to TR's granddaughter, who has been our guest, President Roosevelt himself was known to have come here as a retreat. Often arriving unannounced at the old railway station (now Deerfield Valley Supply in Wilmington) he would be given a ride by one of the local residents.
In the early 1940s, the Roosevelt family sold the property to Mr. Lincoln Haynes of Wilmington (of Vermont Barnboard Fame) and the "Two Tannery Road" building was moved yet again - this time on rollers during a winter blizzard, to its present location. The site had been home to several sawmills and a tannery, thus, its present name.
We invite you to stop by our tavern and see the pictures of this last move and also visit our famous antique bar. The bar is part of the original Waldorf-Astoria in New York City (now the site of the Empire State Building). It was removed from the Waldorf in 1919 with the onset of Prohibition and this piece ended up in a large estate in upstate New York where we acquired it at auction in 1983.
Interestingly, the bar was often patronized by President Roosevelt himself among other luminaries of the time such as Diamond Jim Brady, Bet'cha Million Gates and a multitude of the world's royalty.
We feel very fortunate to have added yet another piece of antiquity to an already historical building.
