The oldest building at the intersection is fitted to the triangular site made by the meeting of the three roads. It is a rambling combination of gabled elements which includes a one-and-one-half-story house with a one-and-one-half-story ell (c. 1780, facing on South Killingly Road, the ell appearing to be older than the house), plus a two-and-one-half-story house (added in 1824, and facing Howard Hill Road), plus another one-story ell (probably for grain storage). Welcome Rood built the 1824 section as a tavern, with a barrel-vaulted Masonic meeting hall upstairs (not open to the public). It was originally decorated with stenciling, the scanty remnants of which show only standard willow and flower designs. Masons met here for ten years, before they were evicted in 1834 at the height of anti-Masonic sentiment. The building was later variously used as the town clerk's office and residence, a post office, and a store. So it was clearly a center, with changing functions, for village life during the nineteenth century. It now serves as a pottery studio, shop, and residence. Other outbuildings, including an arcaded carriage shed built for the inn, which once further complicated this complex, are gone.
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Welcome Rood Tavern
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