Job Burnham built this tavern on Main Street. It looks much like it did in 1770. It is two stories tall with a gambrel roof and central chimney. The tavern sits on a stone foundation overlooking the Machias River. Its yellow paint and clapboard siding are appropriate to the colonial era as are the small panes of glass in the windows and above the door. The gambrel roof is indented with small windows on the second story. The tavern was constructed seven years after the first settlers arrived in Machias and played a role in the American Revolution. After the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the townspeople met at the Tavern to discuss plans to capture the British vessel, the Margaretta. Their successful mission is considered the first naval battle of the Revolution. After the skirmish the Tavern served as a hospital for the wounded sailors. It later became the meeting place for the Masons and a gathering place for women to produce surgical dressings and other items for the World War I effort. Currently it is a museum.
Year Listed: 1973
For more information: https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=653d1b0f-175b-4832-91f0-8b876304b86f