Proceeds to benefit the Wayside Inn Historic Site
MARLBOROUGH, Mass. – Skinner, Inc. today announced its sponsorship of the Wayside Inn Antiques Show, a major new antiques show for the Boston area and the most significant fundraising endeavor that the historic landmark has held in its nearly 300-year history. The debut event will take place at Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in Sudbury, MA from May 14-16, 2010. The show will feature nearly 50 first-rate antique dealers from around the country, showcasing a variety of period decorative arts and furniture under a grand canopy tent situated on the landmark property, only 20 miles west of Boston. Event proceeds go to benefit the Wayside Inn Historic Site.
Longfellow’s Wayside Inn is a nationally recognized Massachusetts Historic Landmark, licensed as an inn and tavern in 1716. It is considered the oldest operating inn in the nation. A visit to the inn in 1862 by Cambridge poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow inspired the author’s well-known “Tales of a Wayside Inn”, which featured the poet’s famous work “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.” One-time owner and entrepreneur Henry Ford chose to capitalize on this celebrated history and established the site as a non-profit institution in 1945, complete with gristmill, chapel and schoolhouse, in addition to the inn and tavern. Today, the Wayside Inn also offers educational programming to the public with interpreters detailing colonial customs at several building locations.
Innkeeper John J. Cowden Jr. is pleased that the Wayside Inn Historic Site was chosen as the location and beneficiary for a show of this caliber, stating that “it provides a number of opportunities for building relationships—with not only the town of Sudbury but with area businesses and collectors who have a vested interest in our colonial site and historic landscape.”
Notes Skinner Americana Director Stephen Fletcher, “The Wayside Inn Antiques Show features an outstanding line-up of premier antique dealers from across the country. As one of the world’s leading auction houses for antiques and fine art, Skinner’s mission is to help educate the public to the fact that buying antiques and learning about our collective material culture is fun, interesting, and quite affordable. If you love antiques or are just interested in learning more about them, I urge to attend the show to see some really fine works of American furniture and decorative arts. And unlike a trip to a museum or historic house, it’s all for sale, so you can actually go home with a little piece of American history.”
Continues Fletcher, “Skinner is pleased to support the show organizers and exhibiting dealers in their effort to bring a world-class antiques show to the surrounding Boston area. We are equally pleased that these historic wares are being showcased in a venue as picturesque as Longfellow’s Wayside Inn.”
Preview Party & Show Hours
An Opening Night Reception and Preview Party will take place on Friday, May 14, from 6:30 – 9 p.m. Fine food and drink will be served, along with advance access to the show floor and all dealer booths. The show is open to the general public on Saturday, May 15th and Sunday, May 16th from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.
Tickets to the preview are $125 by reservation or $150 the night of the event. Admission to the show on Saturday and Sunday, May 15 and 16, is $10. For preview tickets or questions about the show please contact Kathy Quinton, director of sales, at (978) 443-1776 x102 or [email protected]. Complete show information and a list of participating dealers, is available at www.wayside.org/event/wayside-inn-antiques-show.
About Skinner
Skinner, Inc. is one of the world’s leading auction houses for antiques and fine art and the only major auction house headquartered in New England. With expertise in over 20 specialty collecting areas, Skinner draws the interest of buyers from all over the world and its auctions regularly achieve world record prices. Skinner provides a broad range of auction and appraisal services, and it is widely regarded as one of the most trusted names in the auction business. Skinner’s appraisal experts regularly appear on the PBS-TV series, Antiques Roadshow, and its specialty departments include American Furniture & Decorative Arts, American & European Paintings & Prints, European Furniture & Decorative Arts, Fine Ceramics, Fine Silver, Fine Jewelry, Couture, 20th Century Furniture & Decorative Arts, Fine Musical Instruments, Asian Works of Art, Fine Judaica, Toys, Dolls & Collectibles, Science & Technology, Fine Clocks, Oriental Rugs & Carpets, American Indian & Ethnographic Art, Fine Wines, and Discovery. Skinner galleries are located in Boston and Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA. For more information on upcoming auctions and events, visit Skinner’s web site www.skinnerinc.com.
About the Wayside Inn Historic Site
The Wayside Inn Historic Site is a nationally recognized Massachusetts Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places, dedicated to the preservation and stewardship of its multi-acre property. The 125-acre campus operates in conjunction with Longfellow’s Wayside Inn—a tavern and Inn formerly known as Howe’s Tavern, first licensed in 1716.
A 501(c)3 non-profit organization since 1945, the site provides educational programming using trained interpreters versed in the property’s nearly 300-years of operation. The village-like campus—including a water-powered gristmill, non-denominational chapel, and one-room 18th-century schoolhouse—was originally conceived by former owner Henry Ford, and is generally recognized as the first living-history museum in the United States. Ford established the Wayside Inn Historic Site as a non-profit entity in 1945.
Longfellow’s Wayside Inn became a literary landmark after a visit by the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1862 and the publication of his acclaimed “Tales of a Wayside Inn” in 1863. The Wayside Inn Historic Site continues to recognize Longfellow’s influence on its diverse property by way of its continued participation in the National Endowment for the Arts’ literary program “The Big Read,” which was presented in part by the Wayside Inn Historic Site in 2008 and 2010.