Simsbury, Connecticut
History, Historic House
The "Entertainment of Strangers" uses period rooms and interactive exhibition galleries to interpret the use of the historic Capt. Elisha Phelps house as an inn from 1786 to 1849. Three successive generations of the Phelps tavernkeepers are chronicled along with the social history of taverns in New England. From Masonic meetings to ordination balls, the Phelps Tavern hosted townspeople and travelers who arrived by horse, stagecoach and canal.