1826 Stagecoach Stop on the National Register
18 North Main Street, Waterbury, VT 05676
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Room rates vary seasonally per the inn's reservation system; rates include amenities listed on the venue website.
Access
Limited Access
Two-story 1826 inn with original woodwork and stairs; modern suites offer ground-floor access.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1826 · National Register of Historic Places · Stagecoach Era Architecture · Waterbury Village Historic District
The Old Stagecoach Inn stands at the center of Waterbury Village, a Vermont town platted in the early nineteenth century along the route between Montpelier and Burlington. The inn was built in 1826 by a local merchant and quickly became a stop on the stagecoach circuit, offering rooms, meals, and a tavern to travelers crossing the Green Mountains.
From the 1920s through the 1940s, the property was the private residence of Margaret Annette Henry Spencer, a wealthy socialite known to her circle as Nettie. She lived in the building until her death there in 1947 at the age of 98. Her former bedroom is now identified as Room 2.
The inn returned to public lodging use in the second half of the twentieth century. It is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing structure within the Waterbury Village Historic District, recognized for its surviving Federal-period architecture and continuous role in the village's commercial life.
The building has twelve guest rooms today, divided between the original 1826 structure with period decor and a contemporary annex with kitchenettes. The inn also serves as a venue for weddings and private events. New innkeepers assumed operation of the property in the early 2020s, continuing its long run as one of central Vermont's most established small inns.
Sources
Nettie Spencer is the inn's signature ghost story. She lived in the building when it was her private home from the 1920s through the 1940s and died there in her own bedroom in 1947. The inn's posted ghost story holds that she so loved the property she chose not to leave it.
The documented reports center on Room 2 and tend toward subtle phenomena: a figure in a white shawl glimpsed at the foot of the bed, the sense of a calm, watchful presence, and entries in the inn's guest book describing what guests describe as friendly visits. The inn's current and former staff have noted that they themselves have not experienced anything paranormal, but they keep a guest book in which visitors who do report something unusual can write their accounts.
The Old Stagecoach Inn is included in Vermont's tourism office roundup of haunted lodging in the state, and the property's own marketing materials present the Spencer legend with restraint. The inn does not host investigations or ghost tours. The story functions instead as part of the building's two-century-long biography, alongside its stagecoach tavern years and its time as a private home, and Room 2 remains an option that guests can request when booking.
Notable Entities
Reserve one of twelve individually configured rooms in an 1826 stagecoach stop in Waterbury Village. Room 2 was the bedroom of socialite Margaret "Nettie" Spencer, who died there in 1947 at age 98 and is the inn's most-discussed legend.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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