{"nrhp_refnum":"83000568","name":"Hall's Tavern","other_names":["Cole House of Cheshire Cat Tea Room"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"31 North St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cheshire","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.56300083900004,"lon":-73.16558370299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-03-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half-story Federal-style building at 3 North Street (Route 8) in Cheshire Village, Cheshire, Massachusetts, built in 1804 by Calvin Hall and John Leland, Jr. as a residence, store, tavern and inn.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is an exceptional local example of high-style domestic Federal architecture. It is also tied to Cheshire's early development as a tavern, inn, store, prison and meeting hall, serving both townspeople and travelers. It meets criteria A and C.","narrative":"Built in 1804 on the main road between Lanesborough and Adams, this Cheshire Village building began as a combined home, store, tavern and inn. Calvin Hall, a Revolutionary War veteran, and John Leland, Jr. built it in the Federal style, with a symmetrical five-bay facade, central chimney, pedimented entrance and post-and-beam frame. Inside, a second-floor room served as a meeting hall for Franklin Lodge of Masons and retains painted Masonic decoration. During the War of 1812, British prisoners captured at Plattsburg were quartered here. The Halls ran the business until 1816, when David and Polly Cole bought it, and the Cole family stayed connected to the property for about 130 years. In the 1920s and 1930s a granddaughter ran it as the Cheshire Cat inn and tearoom. The grounds may also hold nineteenth-century archaeological remains, including a former barn foundation.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Calvin Hall and John Leland, Jr.","architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Occupied and in good condition, used as a private residence; described as unaltered and on its original site.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.710162-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/6/7942/63794206/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000568.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000568/3473e6a9b2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000568/3473e6a9b2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halls_Tavern,_Cheshire,_Massachusetts.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halls_Tavern,_Cheshire,_Massachusetts.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794206","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall%27s_Tavern_(Cheshire,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5642533"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/halls-tavern-83000568/"}