The busy commercial corner at 51 Main Street, now home to Jake’s Market & Deli and the adjacent Irving Oil filling station, has been a hub of travel and activity in Walpole for nearly two centuries.
An inn stood on this site by the late eighteenth century, first known as Craft’s Tavern, which was in operation by 1793. During the early nineteenth century, as stagecoach traffic increased through the Connecticut River Valley, the tavern became one of Walpole’s most important public houses. In 1838, the property was leased by George Huntington to Justus W. Brown, and during this period it became known as the Hotel Wentworth, one of the most prominent stage stops in the region.
Walpole was a key crossroads on stage routes linking Boston with Burlington, Vermont, and Hanover, New Hampshire, while also connecting smaller river-valley towns to these main lines. Passengers, mail, freight, and news all passed regularly through the village, bringing steady business to its inns and taverns.
A central figure in this network was Otis Bardwell (1792–1871), a Walpole entrepreneur and stage driver who operated several stage and mail lines through the village. Under his direction, establishments such as Craft’s Tavern and the Hotel Wentworth prospered, providing travelers with meals, lodging, and stabling for horses. These inns also served as important social centers, hosting meetings, celebrations, and informal gatherings.
In the early twentieth century, the hotel was renamed The Dinsmore, and by the 1920s it was known as the Red Mill Inn. As automobile travel replaced stagecoaches and railroads reshaped regional transportation, the old hotel declined. By 1950, the building was demolished and replaced by a Gulf Oil service station. The concrete-block structure built at that time to house automobile service bays survives today, repurposed as Jake’s Market & Deli.
Though the original tavern and hotel no longer stand, this corner continues its long tradition of service to travelers, echoing its historic role as one of Walpole’s principal centers of hospitality, commerce, and movement.
Aaron Howland House 