Wyman Tavern Museum

The Wyman Tavern is one of Keene's most historic houses. Built more than two centuries ago, the Tavern has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places and maintained as a period house museum representing the periods from 1770 to 1820 and 1820 to the 1870s.

The Tavern was built by Captain Isaac Wyman in 1762 and operated as a tavern by the Wyman family for 40 years. The first meeting of the trustees of Dartmouth College under President Eleazar Wheelock was held here on October 22, 1770. It was also from this tavern that 29 minutemen started their march to Lexington and Concord in April of 1775 under the command of Captain Wyman, a veteran of the Indian Wars.

The Reverend Zedekiah S. Barstow, Yale graduate and the last minister settled by the town in 1818, made his home in the tavern for 55 years. In addition to his pastoral duties, the Reverend Barstow conducted a private school at the house. His most famous pupil being Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury in President Abraham Lincoln's cabinet, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.