Abigail's Grille & Wine Bar

The tavern was built in 1780 to serve as the first stagecoach stop outside of Hartford on the Boston to Albany Turnpike. The tavern was constructed for Jonathon Pettibone, Jr. during the revolution. The Pettibone Tavern was a meeting place to exchange news of the war, and Captain Phelps of Simsbury used the tavern as a rendezvous with Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys to engineer the bloodless capture of Fort Ticonderoga in the nearby New York colony. After the war the Pettibone Tavern remained the central public house in the growing community, but being on the fringe of civilization it was burned to the ground by Indians in 1800. Even today, one can descend the steps into the old basement and view the charred remains of the hand hewn oak timbers that supported the original tavern. Quickly rebuilt, the tavern re-opened in 1803, but times had changed. Instead of the thriving slave trade in nearby Newport and New York City, the abolitionist movement was gaining momentum. The bricked up tunnel that connects the basement of the Pettibone Tavern to the basement of the old red colonial home across the street at 327 Hopmeadow Street evidences this relationship. Harriett Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1850. She would later be addressed by President Lincoln as “the person who wrote this little book that started this big war.” One can only guess how many nights she spent at the Pettibone Tavern when the stagecoach stopped for the night during her frequent trips from her home in Hartford to her parents’ home in Litchfield. Once again the tavern played a role in the early formation of our new nation. Over the years, the tavern has served as a private residence as well as a restaurant in the more recent history. After experiencing severe water damage in January of 2008, the restaurant then known as Pettibone’s Tavern was purchased by the current owners. It was reopened that November after extensive renovations as Abigail’s Grille and Wine Bar.