1678 Inn Rebuilt as a Boutique Hotel After 2011 Fire
128 Main Street, Groton, MA 01450
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Boutique hotel and on-site Forge & Vine restaurant.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Newly built (2018) hotel structure replicating the 1678 design; modern accessibility features.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1678 · Colonial-Era Tavern Site · National Register of Historic Places · 2018 Faithful Reconstruction
The Groton Inn occupies a parcel that has housed a tavern or inn since 1678, making it among the oldest hostelry sites in New England. The original structure was a horseshoe-shaped wooden building with a dark stained exterior and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 3, 1976. Older Shadowlands and paranormal listings record the property under the name Stagecoach Inn, reflecting its colonial-and-stagecoach-era function.
A fire on August 2, 2011 destroyed the historic building. The site sat dormant until 2016, when 128 Main Street LLC partnered with Omni Properties as developer and the Migis Hotel Group as operator. Construction of a 55,000-square-foot, 60-room replica began in September 2016 and the new Groton Inn opened on May 3, 2018, nearly seven years after the fire.
The rebuild preserved the horseshoe-shaped massing and dark wood character of the original. The on-site restaurant, Forge & Vine, occupies the tavern role the inn has held since the 17th century. While the building itself is new construction, the site and the institutional history continue under the same name.
Sources
The haunted reputation of the Groton Inn was established under the original 1678 structure, before the 2011 fire. A Worcester-based paranormal organization investigated reports that included rooms found rearranged after staff had cleaned them, dishes stacked into pyramid shapes after closing, lights and music switching on without intervention, and what witnesses described as Native American war cries.
The most-cited room was Room 10. Guests reported being shaken awake by an unseen hand. Independent witnesses also described a figure called the Grey Lady moving through the inn and a separate figure in Civil War-era clothing.
Paranormal investigator Kathleen Caslin attributed the Grey Lady to Lilla Maria Hoar, born July 15, 1844, and identified the soldier as Edwin Howe. Both attributions originate with that single investigator and were not corroborated by independent historians.
The original building no longer stands. Whether the reconstructed Groton Inn carries any of the pre-fire reports forward remains an open question; reports from the post-2018 building are sparse, and the property itself does not market the legacy folklore.
Notable Entities
Book a room at the 60-room boutique hotel that replaced the original 1678 inn destroyed by fire in 2011. The reconstruction faithfully replicated the horseshoe-shaped design and dark wood exterior. Pre-fire haunted reports included Room 10 and apparitions called the Grey Lady and a Civil War soldier.
Dine at the on-site Forge & Vine restaurant, the modern incarnation of the colonial tavern that has occupied this site since 1678.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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