[5] Two slaves are known to have lived at the inn: a man named "Portsmouth" and an unnamed girl were purchased in 1773 and 1779, respectively, by Ezekiel Howe.

[3] Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow visited the inn in 1862 with his publisher James T. Fields, shortly after it had become the Red Horse Tavern.

The following year,[8] he purchased 300 acres (1.2 km2) surrounding the inn from John Duncan Pearmain,[9] with the aim of developing it into a historically oriented village and museum.

[10] Ford's aims were not accomplished at the Wayside, but he did establish the non-profit institution that now operates the inn and associated museum, watermill, and archives.

[12] He sold the Wayside property in 1945, ultimately fulfilling his desires to create such a museum at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan.

[15] The inn re-opened June 7, 1958 with an open house and picnics on the lawn of the property's Martha-Mary Chapel and gristmill.