{"nrhp_refnum":"72000141","name":"Golden Ball Tavern","other_names":["Captain Jones' in Weston"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"662 Boston Post Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Weston","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.365878234000036,"lon":-71.30926811799998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-09-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story clapboard Georgian tavern building at 662 Boston Post Road in Weston, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, built in 1768 by Captain Isaac Jones, with ells and a barn on a roughly 6 1/3 acre property.","why_significant":"It is considered probably the best example in Weston of the final phase of Georgian Colonial architecture. Its main historical importance comes from events just before the Revolution, including the 1774 Weston Tea Party and overnight stays by British spies sent by General Gage in 1775 to scout routes toward Worcester.","narrative":"Built in 1768 by Captain Isaac Jones on the Boston Post Road in Weston, Massachusetts, Golden Ball Tavern is a two-story clapboard building with a double-hip roof, twin interior chimneys, and a central door framed by pilasters and a modillioned cornice. A golden ball, the tavern's trademark, hangs over the entrance. Inside, the plan has two rooms on each side of a central hall, original panelling, a detailed staircase, and a hinged wall that can be raised to enlarge a second-floor room. The building is regarded as the town's best example of late Georgian Colonial design. Its historical importance rests on events before the Revolution. In March 1774 townspeople in disguise ransacked the tavern in the Weston Tea Party, looking for Jones's tea. In 1775 British officers and a spy gathered intelligence there on the route to Worcester. The Jones family lived here until 1963, after which a trust turned it into a museum and community center.","period_of_significance":"18th Century (specific dates 1768, 1775)","architect_builder":"Captain Isaac Jones (builder/original owner)","architectural_style":"Georgian Colonial (final phase)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by a trust and used as a museum and community center; rehabilitation was in progress, with school tours and local meetings already held. Condition listed as good and altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.925992-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/15/7960/63796015/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/72000141.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000141/bd723bfca0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000141/bd723bfca0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_Ball_Tavern,_Weston_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_Ball_Tavern,_Weston_MA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"83000783","name":"Boston Post Road Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/boston-post-road-historic-district-83000783/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796015","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Ball_Tavern","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5579175"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/golden-ball-tavern-72000141/"}