The Bay State Monthly, Volume 1, issue 1 | Page 9

About 1812 the house was rented to Dearborn Emerson, who had
been possession of it for a few years.
During the War of 1812 it was an inn of local renown; and a Lieutenant
Chase had his headquarters here for a while, when recruiting for the
army. He raised a company in the neighborhood, which was ordered to
Sackett's Harbor, near the foot of Lake Ontario. The men were put into
uniforms as they enlisted, and drilled daily. They were in the habit of
marching through the village streets to the music of the spirit-stirring
drum and the ear-piercing fife; and occasionally they were invited into
the yard of some hospitable citizen, who would treat them to "the cups
that cheer but not inebriate," when taken in moderation. William Kemp
was the drummer, and Wilder Shepley the fifer, both noted musicians
in their day. Sometimes his brother, Moses Kemp, would act as fifer.
William is still alive, at the advanced age of nearly ninety-five years,
and gives many reminiscences of that period. He was born at Groton on
May 8, 1789, and began to drum in early boyhood. His first appearance
in the public service was during the year 1805, as drummer of the
South Company of Groton, commanded by Luther Lawrence, afterward
the mayor of Lowell. He has been the father of nine children, and has
had thirty grandchildren, thirty-three great-grandchildren, and one
great-great-grandchild. Mr. Kemp can even now handle the drumsticks
with a dexterity rarely equaled; and within a short time I have seen him
give an exhibition of his skill which would reflect credit on a much
younger person. Among the men enlisted here during that campaign
were Marquis D. Farnsworth, Aaron Lewis, William Shepley, and John
Woodward, of this town; and James Adams, and his son, James, Jr., of
Pepperell.
It was about the year 1815 that and Dearborn Emerson left the
Richardson tavern, and moved down the street, perhaps thirty rods,
where he opened another public house on the present site of Milo H.
Shattuck's store. The old tavern, in the meantime, passed into the hands
of Daniel Shattuck, who kept it until his death, which occurred on April

8, 1831. The business was then carried on during a short time by Clark
Tenny, who was followed by Lemuel Lakin, and afterward by Francis
Shattuck, a son of Daniel, for another brief period. About the year 1833
it was given up entirely as a public house, and thus passed away an old
landmark widely known in those times. It stood well out on the present
road, the front door facing down what is now Main Street, the upper
end of which then had no existence. In approaching the tavern from the
south, the road went up Hollis Street and turned to the left somewhere
south of the Burying-Ground. The house afterward was cut up and
moved off, just before the Baptist meeting-house was built. My earliest
recollections carry me back faintly to the time when it was last used as
a tavern, though I remember distinctly the building as it looked before
it was taken away.
Dearborn Emerson married a sister of Daniel Brooks, a large owner in
the line of stage-coaches running through Groton from Boston to the
northward; and this family connection was of great service to him.
Jonas Parker, commonly known as "Tecumseh" Parker, was now
associated with Emerson in keeping the new hotel. The stage business
was taken away from the Richardson tavern, and transferred to this one.
The house was enlarged, spacious barns and stables were erected, and
better accommodations given to man and beast,--on too large a scale
for profit, it seems, as Parker and Emerson failed shortly afterward,
This was in the spring of 1818, during which year the tavern was
purchased by Joseph Hoar, who kept it a little more than six years,
when he sold it to Amos Alexander. This landlord, after a long time,
was succeeded in turn by Isaac J. Fox, Horace Brown, William Childs,
Artemas Brown, John McGilson, Abijah Wright, and Moses Gill. It
was given up as a hotel in 1856, and made into a shoe factory; and
finally it was burned. Mr. Gill had the house for eight years, and was
the last landlord. He then opened a public house directly opposite to the
Orthodox church, and called it The Globe, which he kept for two years.
He was succeeded by Stephen Woods, who remained only one year,
after which time this also was given up as a public house.
Another hostelry was the Ridge Hill tavern, situated at the Ridges,
three miles from the village, on the Great Road to Boston. This was

built about the year 1805, and much frequented by travelers and
teamsters. At this point the roads diverge and