English: James Hicks was the second owner of the Inn after Elijah Dewey's death in 1818. He owned the Inn during the stagecoach era, and used the era and the Inn as a lucrative business. Hicks named the Inn the "Hicks Tavern" and primarily used the Tavern for its stagecoach travel. Hicks would constantly run stagecoaches out of the tavern, carrying people from Bennington as far as New York or into Massachusetts. Guests would typically stay a night at the hotel before leaving on the stagecoach for their final destination. The coach would cost on average about 9 dollars per person and would run from 6 A.M. to 6 P.M. each day. The total trip to New York would take about four days. In 1823, Hicks added the third floor to the Inn and installed a ballroom on the second floor.

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Because of its prominent location and unkempt appearance, the Walloomsac Inn attracts much public attention as one of the obviously most historic buildings in the picturesque village of Old Bennington. The inn, which served the public as a bed-and-breakfast as recently as about 15 years ago, is a private residence whose owners wish that status to be respected.

Before the inn was built in 1764, the land was first used as a meeting spot before the Battle of Bennington. It was built in 1764 by the first settled minister of Bennington's Old First Church, the Rev. Jedediah Dewey, for his 20-year-old son, Elijah, are exaggerated. Rev. Dewey was the builder in 1763 of the oldest frame house in Bennington, diagonally across the green from the Walloomsac Inn. Some of the famous patriots that stayed at this famous inn included John Stark and Seth Warner whom organized many meetings at the inn. Other guests included Thomas Jefferson, who was serving then as a U.S. Secretary of State. James Madison stayed there in 1791 where he was serving as a U.S. House of Representatives member.

In 1818 the inn was purchased by the Hicks family, where they proceeded to become wealthy by using the Stagecoach business to attract visitors until 1848. In 1877 President Rutherford B. Hayes enjoyed a stay at the inn. He was in Bennington to celebrate the centennial of the Battle of Bennington. President Benjamin Harrison held a reception at the Inn in 1891. Harrison was in Bennington to celebrate the centennial of Vermont's admittance to the United States. When Walter Berry became owner of the Inn in 1891, he added the large three story addition to the back of the inn.

text and drawing (5-d02711e8f75b70cfdb52d109f279e59f) seen at www.hauntedtravelsusa.com/me/haunted-travels-usa/the-wall...

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image by Photo George copyrighted: ©2017 GCheatle reworked & in public domain

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