HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
Exeter's 1775 Folsom Tavern and the American Independence Museum, starting point of the museum's "Exeter After Dark" history-and-haunts walking tour.
164 Water Street, Exeter, NH 03833
Research updated August 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Museum admission and the 'Exeter After Dark' walking tour are separately ticketed. The tour runs about 90 minutes; tickets are sold through the American Independence Museum. Consult independencemuseum.org for current pricing and dates.
Access
Limited Access
The walking tour covers roughly 1.5 miles of historic Exeter streets and sidewalks; the historic buildings have period stairs and thresholds.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1721 · 1721 Ladd-Gilman House, a National Historic Landmark · 1775 Folsom Tavern; George Washington stopped here in 1789 · Holds a Dunlap Broadside of the Declaration of Independence · Exeter served as New Hampshire's Revolutionary-era capital
The American Independence Museum occupies a campus in downtown Exeter that captures the town's role in the Revolutionary era, when Exeter served as New Hampshire's wartime capital. Its anchor is the Ladd-Gilman House, built in 1721 by Nathaniel Ladd and later home to the Gilman family; it is a registered National Historic Landmark. The Gilmans were central to New Hampshire's revolutionary government, and the house held state records during the war.
The 1775 Folsom Tavern, built by Colonel Samuel Folsom and listed on the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places, was moved to the museum campus. The tavern's best-documented moment came on November 4, 1789, when President George Washington stopped there for a meal during his tour of the northern states.
The museum's signature holding is a Dunlap Broadside of the Declaration of Independence, one of the early printings, discovered in 1985. The collection also includes draft copies of the U.S. Constitution and an original Badge of Military Merit, the forerunner of the Purple Heart, along with period furniture, documents, and decorative arts.
In its public programming, the museum runs 'Exeter After Dark: Crime, Haunts, and Local Lore,' a guided evening walking tour that gathers at Folsom Tavern and explores Exeter's history through its documented crime, folklore, and ghost stories, including the spiritualist gatherings once held at the site.
Sources
Unlike sites whose hauntings circulate as anonymous folklore, the ghost stories connected to Folsom Tavern and the American Independence Museum are presented by the institution itself. The museum's 'Exeter After Dark: Crime, Haunts, and Local Lore' tour gathers at the 1775 tavern and walks roughly 1.5 miles through historic Exeter, including the Water Street Cemetery, covering alleged ghost sightings alongside true crime and local legend.
The museum's own promotion notes that spiritualists once gathered at the site, part of the nineteenth-century movement that held the living could communicate with the dead. That detail is offered as historical context for the building's reputation rather than as a claim of present-day haunting.
Because the tour is run by the museum and built on documented local history, its supernatural content is framed as storytelling layered onto real places and events. Independent ghost-tour operators have also featured Folsom Tavern and the museum among Exeter's haunted stops, which has reinforced the reputation. Visitors should treat the haunted material as part of an interpretive history walk anchored in Exeter's genuine Revolutionary-era and nineteenth-century past.
Join the American Independence Museum's roughly 90-minute evening walking tour, which gathers at the 1775 Folsom Tavern and covers about 1.5 miles through historic Exeter, including the Water Street Cemetery. Guides cover the town's documented crime, local legends, and alleged ghost sightings, including the building's history of spiritualist gatherings. Tickets are sold through the museum.
Tour the museum's 1721 Ladd-Gilman House, a National Historic Landmark, and view its collection, including a Dunlap Broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence. The 1775 Folsom Tavern, where George Washington stopped for a meal in 1789, is part of the campus. This is a daytime Revolutionary-era history visit.
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