The past is not the property of historians; it is a public possession. It belongs to anyone who is aware of it, and it grows by being shared. Walter Havighurst, Ph.D., author of With Heritage So Rich

The Keeler Tavern (back entrance view), built in 1713, served as an inn and secret meeting place for colonial patriots during the Revolutionary War “Historic architecture and historic places are the most visible and easily accessible ways to experience history,” says Steve Chambers, Texas architect who does historic restorations.

On the 4th of July a few years ago, Steve had the good fortune to visit friends in Connecticut. The hosts guided several historical walks throughout the area’s most auspicious connections to 18th century architecture and to locales that give insight into the Revolutionary War period. One piece of architecture that still stands out as illuminating, in terms of the fervor and passion for independence upon which our country is founded, is Keeler Tavern. The Tavern was a farmhouse that became an 18th century inn. Because of its strategic location on the inland stage route from New York City to Hartford to Boston, it also served as the Ridgefield Post Office.

Ridgefield, with its roughly 50 structures and 1,700 people, mostly farmers, wasn’t much in 1775. It carried no strategic value to the plundering British, according to Keith M. Jones and his book, “The Battle of Ridgefield.” Like most New England towns in that era, Ridgefield’s Keeler Tavern was a hub for patriots to gather at night to drink ale, eat dinner, and talk about how the British Army torched the Continental Army’s supply depot in Danbury. It is where people gathered to discuss these and other issues of the day. But, within two years, the Tavern became the gathering place for colonial patriots and the town militia. Eventually, the basement was used for the making of musket balls and secret meetings in which the progress of the war effort was shared were held in a hidden upstairs room.

The political sentiments in Ridgefield at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War were similar to the isolationist view taken by many U.S. citizens less than 200 years later prior to the start of World War II, historians say. While most understood the big picture, there was a permeating feeling of not getting involved until King George’s Army gave them something to get riled about, which they did on April 27, 1777. During the Battle of Ridgefield, British troops fired on the tavern with a cannon in the street. One of the British cannonballs lodged itself in the northeast corner post of the building where it is observable today, a memento that served as a wake-up call to the patriots. The British burned parts of the town, including the Episcopal Church, where arms were being stored. And, although the combination of militia and 700 Continental Army forces led in part by a courageous Brigadier General Benedict Arnold lost the battle, it served to slow the British, who never again fought inside Connecticut. The original sign of the inn featured a portrait of King George III, which was painted over with a depiction of horseman Timothy Keeler who sided with the American revolutionaries.

A British cannonball has been lodged in northeast corner of Keeler Tavern since 1777

Dining table in Keeler Tavern set with wooden ware

The tavern offers a unique perspective of what colonial life was like at the time. It was the luck of the draw from a hat in 1709 that instilled the fate of the present day Keeler Tavern property when a lottery for new landowners in the area decided who would receive what property. Built by Benjamin Hoyt in 1713, the home still maintains much of its original features, like four fireplaces, The Bonaparte Dining Room (named after Napoleon’s younger brother who dined there), and wide-planked flooring and chestnut beams. Stepping inside the door returns us to life as lived in Ridgefield for about 300 years.The dining table is still set with wooden ware ready for a hearty family-style meal. The ramble of halls and rooms are spare but impart a coziness that encourages conversation and intimacy.

In 1907, the property was purchased by Cass Gilbert, architect of the Woolworth Building in New York City and the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. His wise decision to preserve and restore this important part of America’s historical built environment enables us to imagine those pivotal days in our nation’s early history. Within two to three decades, the impact of significant events is often lost and then forgotten by the next generation. Architecture, when properly preserved, “engages the past in a conversation with the present over a mutual concern for the future.*” In 1982, the site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and is operated as the Keeler Tavern Museum. For more photos of architecture in Ridgefield, see our blog, “Historic Restoration: Museum in the Streets.”

All photography by Stephanie Chambers.
*William J. Murtagh, Keeping Time: The History and Theory of Preservation in America