Preserving Fairfield’s Sun Tavern with the Freemasons On the moonlit evening of November 15, 2012, Freemasons returned to Sun Tavern for the first time since 1809, thanks to Fairfield Museum’s preservation efforts. In the process, the Museum awakened the Tavern’s role in the town’s daily life. But how did saving a landmark end up nurturing an ancient society?
Friendship
PHOTO: JAMES W. D’ACOSTA
is at the heart of this Masonic adventure. Passion for Fairfield’s history drew Chris S. J. Jennings and Walter Matis into each other’s circle of acquaintances. Jennings, the Worshipful Master of St. John’s No. 3, knew of its early meetings at the Tavern and aspired to orchestrate a return. Matis, Fairfield Museum’s Program and Volunteer Coordinator, was involved in raising funds for vital lead paint abatement and encapsulation.
Sun Tavern’s claims to the Museum’s scarce resources are manifest. Built in 1780, it stands on its original foundations. Situated along Old Post Road in the southern corner of the town green and adjacent to town hall, it is a witness to American history since Independence. Travel along the New York City to Boston corridor still flows within sight of its windows. That George Washington slept at Sun Tavern on the night of October 16, 1789, is the conclusion of Thomas J.
Farnham in Fairfield: The Biography of a Community, 1639-1989. Additionally, John Adams wrote of being “in good health and Spirits” while staying there, and later correspondence finds Abigail attesting to the same “upon a visit at Fairfield.” According to Matis, the Tavern is called “Penfield’s” and sometimes listed as “S. Penfield’s” in early documents. The first references to the name “Sun Tavern” appear in the late nineteenth century and may have been started by Robert Manuel Smith who lived in the structure from 1885 until the early 20th century. Samuel Penfield bought 1.5 acres with “buildings thereon standing” from Thomas and Hannah Gibbs in 1761 and began operating a tavern on the property sometime before the revolution which fell victim to “Tryon’s Raid” on July 7, 1779. During this cataclysmic event, British troops also burned the courthouse, church, and most of the homes near the green. Sun Tavern rose from these ashes. Lodge records reveal that Jonathan Bulkeley’s competing tavern, known to have been General William Tryon’s headquarters during the raid, was many times its meeting place during Bulkeley’s unusually long tenure as Worshipful Master from 1771 to 1788. Masonic lodges often met at taverns.
Sun Tavern in Fairfield.
18
ScottishRiteNMJ.org
Seeking funds to preserve Sun Tavern, Matis conducted a presentation at the lodge which led to a major donation from The Connecticut Freemasons Foundation. Masons were thrilled to
The Northern Light
