The building is surrounded by 1/2 acre of land, part of which goes down a hill with a ton of Pachysandra. The garden in bloom has Peonies, Siberian Irises, Alliums, Irises, Hibiscus, Lavender, to name a few. The barn that was moved with the house and used to shelter horses is now a 3 car garage. The driveway circles the house and barn.
The Second Floor
The Restoration Work Continues.
The ballroom has a coved plaster ceiling which is painted blue. This photograph was taken when the tavern was moved to Danbury and shows how the ballroom looked circa 1918. Note the Windsor chairs in Ives collection. The ballroom in a colonial tavern would be an important feature for dances in the winter and when an important personage passed through the area. It also served as a large sleeping dormitory, it is said that the Old Brookfield Tavern lent its aid to General Putnam and his command during the bitter winter encampment in Redding during the American Revolution. Alas sometime after George F. Ives died in 1923, one of private owners added a ceiling below the roof of the ballroom and divided the space into two additional bedrooms. However, you can climb up through a hatch in one of the closets and still see the extant coved ceiling of the ballroom.. On the second floor over the taproom is the Master bedroom, accross the hall from the ballroom. But if there were important guests they would have been given the master bedroom to sleep in during their stay in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Jerome and Betsy Bonaparte
Jerome and Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte were married Christmas Eve in 1803 in Baltimore, Maryland. The young couple went on a honeymoon through New England in 1804. According to the literature one of the many stops they made at inns along the way was the Old Brookfield Tavern and the nearby Keeler Tavern in Ridgefield. When Napoleon Bonaparte learned about his brother's marriage he forced the couple to separate in 1805 and annulled the marriage himself when he became Emperor.
Major Nichols
It is said that Major Nichol's stayed at the inn when he was looking for suitable fortifications for British Troops during the earlier French and Indian War.
George Washington and Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold was in the area when he fought in the Ridgefield battle in 1777. It is said that George Washington stayed at the inn during the Revolutionary War and indeed he traveled through Connecticut on more than on occasion. I did a quick scan through every page of William S. Baker's 1892 book "The Itinerary of George Washington from 1775-1783, and didn't see any reference unfortunately. Washington wrote in his diary about all the inns he stayed at. I have been told however it is more likely George slept here then Benedict Arnold. But we need proof.
