Page 20 - Taverns Stands in Woodstock - for Flipbook_Neat

When General Lafayette visited Woodstock in 1825, he went to Barker’s Hotel for a meal. “As he approached
the hotel a group of youthful singers on the upper balcony of that wonderful building greeted him with songs.”
Supposedly they served him a roast pig with a lemon in its mouth. There were many toasts and he left after an
hour and half.

Robert Barker became well known in his capacity as landlord of the hotel. His motto was: “Welcome the com-
ing, speed the parting guest.” The hotel must have been quite a hub of activity with Barker’s connections to the
stage and local community. Even local doctors could let out a room at the hotel providing “constant and unre-
mitting attention” to their patrons. In late October 1828, a music school was established at Barker’s Hotel. A
subscription was left at the bar for those that wanted to pay the $3 fee for 24 lessons. “In those days, the village
inn was the center for the collection and dispersal of all news. As the teamsters sat before the generous open
fires, sipping flip or slings, they exchanged news gathered from remote places, discussed politics, and told jolly
stories. The landlord of the village inn became an important person from his wide acquaintances with men and
with business affairs. He was usually a good judge of men and horses,” concludes Vail in his history of Pomfret.

The was a space between the hotel and the store where the garden from Spooner’s days remained for many years.
It was here that caravans and circuses pitched their tents. Around it was a high board fence painted white. Bark-
er improved upon the original building which consisted of a two-story building running east and west on a line
with Central Street. It had a small, low wing, which was used as a kitchen, which projected from the west end of
the two-story building towards the north. This wing, Barker made wider and longer, and he also raised it to a
second story. On the main building he put a third story with a dancing hall in it. He also added two piazzas. He
had built a large barn in 1826 which Ballard Dana conducted the contract work.

Barker sold a part of the garden that lay between the hotel and store to E.S. Hayden on June 19, 1833; the rest
he conveyed to the Bank of Woodstock. According to a ledger book of the firm, Waedner & Sabin, Robert Bark-
er was buying several goods for the hotel. By October 1835 he sold the hotel to Samuel Whitney.

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