Overlooking the salt marshes of West River in Guilford, stands one of the town's most imposing landmark homes. The Medad Stone Tavern was one of two taverns owned by Medad Stone and, oddly enough, never used as a tavern!

To understand more about this folly, it is necessary to understand more about Medad Stone, who was undoubtedly one of the most expansive figures in Guilford history. Not only was he a tavern-keeper (innkeeper) on the Guilford Green in the halfway station between New York and Boston, but was the town’s first postmaster and the owner of a stage company that contracted for the delivery of U.S. mail.

In 1800 the roads were so bad that the State passed a law allowing private individuals to upgrade roads and charge tolls. So Medad Stone and his business partners petitioned the General Assembly in 1803, praying for a turnpike road between New Haven and New London.

According to local tradition, Medad Stone's lobby for relocation of the Post Road in Guilford stemmed from his desire to score a personal gain. Confident of the approval, he built a noble new tavern of Dutch colonial design where the new toll road would be. When the new turnpike road never materialized, Medad's error in judgment landed him a second tavern with no prospects for guests and the tavern never opened.

The building with its 14 rooms and 10 fireplaces stands today with little alteration. Len Hubbard, a descendant of Joel Davis who owned the house after Stone, bequeathed it to Guilford Keeping Society in 2001. The historical society interprets the property as The Tavern that opened 200 years late as a museum.