Benedict Arnold – Stop 17

Jesse Brown Tavern

circa 1790, 77 East Town Street Norwich, CT

Jesse Brown’s house was a licensed tavern and stagecoach stop in 1790 for those traveling between Boston and New York via Providence and Norwich. The tavern was famous for fine dinners boasting delicacies from Boston and Hartford.  President John Adams and his wife, Abigail Adams, dined at the tavern on August 1, 1797, and were treated to a sixteen-gun salute. According to the 1810 census, Jesse Brown enslaved three individuals who likely lived at the property.

In 1814, Captain Bela Peck bought the tavern and lived there until his death in 1850. Soon after, Moses Pierce donated the building to the United Workers to be used as a home for poor children known as the “Rock Nook Home.” Today, it is the home of the United Community and Family Services, the successor organization of the United Workers. This structure is in the Federal style, probably originating as a center hall twin chimney plan and has been greatly altered twice during the nineteenth century. 

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