the Emerson tavern, at the other end of the village street. He kept it
for nearly twenty years,--excepting the year 1836, when Moses Gill and
his brother-in-law, Henry Lewis Lawrence, were the landlords,--and sold
out about 1842 to Thomas Treadwell Farnsworth. It was then conducted as
a temperance house, at that time considered a great innovation on former
customs. After a short period it was sold to Daniel Hunt, who kept it
until 1852, and he was followed by James M. Colburn, who had it for two
years. It then came into the possession of J. Nelson Hoar, a son of the
former landlord, who took it in 1854, and in whose family it has since
remained. Latterly it has been managed by three of his daughters, and
now is known as the Central House. It is the only tavern in the village,
and for neatness and comfort can not easily be surpassed.

In the list of innholders, near the end of Isaiah Thomas's Almanack, for
1785, appears the name of Richardson, whose tavern stood on the present
site of the Baptist church. It was originally the house owned and
occupied by the Reverend Gershom Hobart, which had been considerably
enlarged by additions on the north and east sides, in order to make it
more suitable for its new purposes. Mine host was Captain Jephthah
Richardson, who died on October 9, 1806. His father was Converse
Richardson, who had previously kept a small inn, on the present Elm
Street, near the corner of Pleasant. It was in this Elm Street house
that Timothy Bigelow, the rising young lawyer, lived, when he first came
to Groton. Within a few years this building has been moved away. Soon
after the death of Captain Jephthah Richardson, the tavern was sold to
Timothy Spaulding, who carried on the business until his death, which
occurred on February 19, 1808. Spaulding's widow subsequently married
John Spalter, who was the landlord for a short time. About 1812 the
house was rented to Dearborn Emerson, who had been possession of it for
a few years.