| Description | The Keeler Tavern Museum has been a farmhouse,tavern and stagecoach stop, a busy hotel for travelers and summer guests, the home of a noted architect and his family, and since 1966 a museum.
The tavern building with its central chimney, incuding four fireplaces, was bilt around 1713 by Benjamin Hoyt. Another kitchen was added in the 1790s. Converted into a tavern and stagecoach stop in 1772 by Benjamin's grandson, Timothy Keeler, it is located on the inland stage route from New York City to Hartford to Bostaon. The Keeler Tavern served as the Ridgefield Post Office for over fifty years. A Britsh cannonball fired at the Tavern during the Revolutionary Way (April 27, 1777) remains embedded in a corner post. Operated as a hotel by Timothy's daughter Anna and her husband, Abijah Resseguie, the property was sold in 1907 by their daughters, Anna Marie, to Cass Gilbert the architect of the Woolworth Building in New York City, the Library in New Haven, Connecticut and the Supreme Court Bui8lding in Washington, D.C.
Cass Gilbert's additions to the property include a circa 1915 Garden House overlooking a brick walled garden. Designed for entertaining, it is used today for concerts, lectures and special events, and may be rented for weddings and other social occasions. The garden is open for public viewing.
The Keeler Tavern Preservation Society, Inc. opened the property as a museum on July 4, 1966 with the goal of preserving Ridgefield's most historic building for the education and enjoyment of all who visit. The Museum is furnished with 18th and 19th century pieces, some of which had belonged to the Keeler family , and reflects live as lived in Ridgefield for almost 300 years. |
