Walking Rye History: The Square House
MyRye.com is encouraging you to walk Rye history. We’ll be publishing a series of local historical locations, along with background, photos and a map to the location.
Today, consider a walk to Rye’s Square House.
Get outside and enjoy our history. Be sure and look for this marker:
The Square House is Rye’s most beloved landmark and is listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. It was built in the early 1700s on the site of an older farmhouse and then expanded in the 1780s. Since the 1700s, the Square House has been the heart of our community – a tavern, stagecoach stop, post office, village hall and museum.
Its most prominent owner was Dr. Ebenezer Haviland. In 1774, he helped organize Rye’s residents to protest British taxation. John and Samuel Adams stayed here on their way to and from the First Continental Congress. In 1789, President George Washington stopped twice at this “clean and decent inn.”
If you look across the street toward the flagpole, you’ll see the location of Rye’s first village square. The town militia trained there and “unhappy culprits” were punished in the town stockades. The base of the flagpole is a memorial to the 331 Rye residents who served in World War l.
Learn even more about the Square House.
Map to the Square House:
