Capt. Elisha Phelps House - Phelps Tavern Museum

Phelps Tavern Museum

The estate is now known as The Phelps Tavern Museum. The museum uses period rooms and interactive exhibits and galleries to interpret the use of the house as an inn from 1786 to 1849. Three successive generations of the Phelps tavern-keepers are chronicled along with the social history of taverns in New England. From Masonic meetings to ordination balls, the Phelps Tavern hosted townspeople and travelers who arrived by horse, stagecoach and canal.

The Phelps Tavern Museum is part of a 2-acre (8,100 m2) complex that includes a museum store, research archives, and period gardens. It is owned and operated by the Simsbury Historical Society.

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