{"nrhp_refnum":"66000137","name":"Buckman Tavern","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Hancock St., on the E side of Lexington Green","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lexington","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.449569939500066,"lon":-71.22963445669501,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1975-05-15","areas_of_significance":["Military"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2-story frame and clapboard tavern at 1 Bedford Street, Lexington, Massachusetts, begun about 1690 and enlarged and remodeled until it reached its present Georgian form by 1775. It sits on a 2.86-acre park-like property that was formerly the Merriam estate.","why_significant":"It is the oldest of a dozen inns that once operated in Lexington and the building most closely associated with the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775. It served as the militia's headquarters that morning, and its walls still carry marks from British musket balls.","narrative":"Buckman Tavern, at 1 Bedford Street in Lexington, Massachusetts, began about 1690 as a public house built by Benjamin Muzzy, who was licensed to keep it in 1693. Later enlargements and remodeling gave it the four-square Georgian form it had by 1775, with a hipped roof, a five-bay front, and ells at the southeast and northeast corners. It takes its name from John Buckman, the 1775 proprietor and a member of the Lexington Minute Men. Local militia gathered there during the night before British troops arrived on April 19, 1775, and the tavern served as their headquarters during the brief skirmish with the regulars that opened the armed struggle for American independence. Musket-ball scars remain on its walls. The building also housed Lexington's first store and, in 1812, its first post office. The Town of Lexington bought it in 1913, and the Lexington Historical Society now runs it as a museum. A 1973 rehabilitation left it in excellent condition.","period_of_significance":"18th Century (specific dates c. 1690; 1775)","architect_builder":"Benjamin Muzzy (built original section about 1690)","architectural_style":"Georgian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Town-owned and operated as a museum by the Lexington Historical Society; condition described as excellent after a 1973 rehabilitation.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 01:58:34.660398-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/63/7937/63793763/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/66000137_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000137/b84000f078-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000137/b84000f078-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Bostonian13","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buckman_Tavern_1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bostonian13</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buckman_Tavern_1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793763","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckman_Tavern","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4983405"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/buckman-tavern-66000137/"}