The Stone House Tavern Museum will open Saturday after about 7½ years of work. The “soft opening” is for only Chesterfield residents.
Pam Walton, vice president of the Chesterfield Historical Society, said she’s spent years responding to the question, “When is it going to open?” with “when it’s ready.”
To finally be able to say “this week” feels “wonderful,” she said Monday.
The museum will open later in the summer for the general public. Dates and times for those openings will be posted on the Chesterfield Historical Society website.
The historical society bought the building in April 2018 raising $300,000 for that purpose, according to the project website.
The Stone House was built in 1831 and operated as a restaurant and inn from the 1920s to the late 1980s.
The Stone House Tavern Museum in Chesterfield is slated to open this Saturday. The “soft opening” is for only Chesterfield residents. (Courtesy of the Chesterfield Historical Society)
The building was added to the N.H. Register of Historic Places in 2018. The museum will feature educational materials focused on the history of the Stone House and the town’s history as an agricultural, manufacturing and lake resort hub.
After acquiring the building, Walton, Val Starbuck and other volunteers went to work writing grants.
By the end of 2018, the society won a $10,000 matching grant from the N.H. Land and Community Heritage Investment Program to help pay for a preservation planning study.
The study proposed a two-phase renovation plan, with the first phase focused on repairs and replacements to secure the structure and exterior features of the building and the second phase shifting attention to preservation of the interior and getting the building up to code.
Another land and community heritage grant, this time for $95,000, helped cover the cost of the renovations, as did a $20,000 gift from the Putnam Foundation. As a requirement of that grant, the historical society committed to stewarding the historic building for at least the next ten years.
A third land and community heritage grant of $44,000 contributed to completion of an unexpected third phase of work on the building, which included mitigating basement water seepage and constructing an accessible path and doorway entry.
Construction was completed in late 2024, including a new exit on the second floor, two bathrooms, the accessible entrance, drainage, porch restoration, stone wall repair and landscaping.
A committee to manage the museum was also established, and Starbuck was elected chairperson.
Walton said she’s looking forward to giving friends a tour on Saturday, finally able to share the results of the projects she’s been working on for years. “It’s going to be wonderful,” she said.
The museum committee plans to open the building to residents on Saturdays throughout the summer, Walton said, and are looking for volunteers interested in becoming docents.
Abigail Ham can be reached at 603-355 8554 or aham@keenesentinel.com.
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