Ames Tavern

[2][3] Given the distance from Boston, the General Court agreed on May 9, 1649, to free Dedham from the tax levied on wine.

[7][8] About this time the old tavern was raised six inches higher, the walk filled with bricks, it was fitted with closets, and was completely furnished.

[7] After Joshua Fisher died in 1730, he left a life estate to his wife, Hannah, with residual rights to his daughters.

[10][1] Nathaniel Ames continued to run the tavern, though he moved out in 1740 when he married Mary's cousin, Deborah Fisher.

[10] Hannah did not die until 1744, at which point Joshua Fisher's other daughters and their husbands declared that they should inherit the very profitable tavern.

[11][1] He hung a sign out of front of the tavern, which was now officially his, that showed Benjamin Lynde and Paul Dudley, the two justices who voted against him, with their backs to books containing the laws of the province.

[11][1] Word got to Ames faster than the sheriff did, however, so when the official pulled up to the tavern he found a new sign that simply stated "Matthew 12:39."

[15][16] Thomas Jefferson ate breakfast there on June 18, 1784 as he toured the northern states before departing for Europe as an ambassador from the Congress of the Confederation.

Faith Huntington's funeral was held at the Samuel Dexter House on November 28, 1775 and she was buried in the tomb of Nathaniel Ames.

[5] There was no fence between the house and the street, and the intervening space was covered with grass of that thick and stubbed growth peculiar to such localities.

[5] Behind it was a large barn while on both sides, and back for so or 1,000 feet (300 m) to the Charles River, stretched a broad field of irregular surface.