{"nrhp_refnum":"84002757","name":"Nichols, Jerry, Tavern","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"51 Mill St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Reading","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.56949005000007,"lon":-71.10844018099993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-07-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Georgian vernacular house at 51 Mill Street in Reading, Massachusetts, built around 1785 by Jeremiah Nichols. It later served as a tavern and stagecoach stop.","why_significant":"The site was a drilling ground and powder house for Minute Men before 1776. The property is tied to Revolutionary War veteran Jeremiah Nichols and the Reverend Peter Sanborn, and to its use as a tavern and stagecoach stop. It is also a good example of vernacular Georgian architecture in Reading.","narrative":"Built around 1785 at 51 Mill Street in Reading, this clapboard farmhouse was begun by Jeremiah Nichols, a Revolutionary War veteran who worked as a shoemaker and farmer. The five-bay house faces south, with its main interest in the central doorway, which has pilasters supporting a full entablature that may not be original. First-floor windows are taller than most, with nine-over-six sash, and the eaves are framed without returns, typical of eighteenth-century practice. The farm stood near the border of the Second Parish, now North Reading, on a site used as a drilling ground and powder house for Minute Men before 1776. The house became a tavern and stagecoach stop, certainly by 1830. After a mortgage and sale in the 1820s, Peter Sanborn, a former minister of the Old South Church, bought the farm, and the Sanborn family owned it until the 1940s. It is recognized for its military, tavern, personal and architectural associations.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Jeremiah Nichols (original owner and builder of the house); architect listed as n/a","architectural_style":"Georgian Vernacular","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Presently used as a dwelling; later extension to the east includes a garage, and earlier extensions were removed.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.200068-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/97/7922/63792297/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002757.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002757/4c6a8e54e7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002757/4c6a8e54e7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ReadingMA_JerryNicholsTavern.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ReadingMA_JerryNicholsTavern.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792297","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Nichols_Tavern","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6184168"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/nichols-jerry-tavern-84002757/"}