Haunted Inn in Wyoming, RI
Way Of The Ray
By KELLY SULLIVAN May 17, 2001
WYOMING - There was a time when those in Segar's Store could look out
the window and see the bustling activity taking place at Dawley's Tavern
and Inn.
Today's Segar's Store is the Wood River Inn owned by Diane Larisa and
Kenneth Boucher. Through it's windows, the once-thriving inn can still
be seen. And for the past couple of years, the vision has been one
that's haunted Larisa.
"I sat here in this window and watched that building rotting away," she
said during a recent interview.
Finally, the aged structure built by Francis Brown in 1800 was put up
for sale. Larisa and Boucher jumped at the chance to become its new
owners.
"Some people thought we were crazy for buying it," she said. "Some
people said it should've been bulldozed down."
With faulty wiring, a crumbling roof and splintered walls, the building
had become, to many, an eyesore. But Larisa saw past the inn's physical
appearance.
"I thought about what it would be like if those walls could talk," she
said. "I love history." She smiled as she recalled an old photograph she
has from the 1900s.
"It's of a little boy standing on that corner right there," she said,
pointing out the window toward the inn. "And you look at that picture
and you wonder who he was and what he was doing there. It's just amazing
to think about it."
The original building, constructed by Brown was actually ravaged by fire
and then rebuilt in 1845. During the time when Route 3 was being laid, a
very large 3-story section on the right side of the building had to be
removed to make way for the road.
Aside from serving up rum and providing travelers with a comfortable
room for the night, the inn also housed Francis Brown's jewelry and shoe
& knee buckle shop. Brown's foreman was a man by the name of Tertius
Bailey.
Brown eventually sold the property to Joseph Irish, who in turn sold it
to a Mrs. Fields. After her ownership, the tavern was turned into a
temperance house where owner Matthew Wilbur imposed strict rules against
alcohol consumption at the inn for the next 15 years.
Silas Kenyon was the next to take over ownership but, deeply in debt,
sold the property to A.J. Dawley. "Dawley's Inn" has since become the
name that most older residents use when referring to the building. But
to most, the place where horses and coaches were once a familiar sight,
it will always be known as "The Stagecoach Inn". A new sign, baring that
very name, has recently been placed on the front of the refurbished inn.
Treasure Trove
Although the renovation of the building consisted of a lot more work
than new owners Larisa, Boucher, Tom Rekowski and Patty Rekowski
expected, Larisa got her wish...those walls did talk...
While removing boards during the reconstruction process, a startling
discovery was made. Hidden within the walls, beneath the decades of dust
and darkness, lay a trove of historical treasures. Two copper colored
bottles and four clear whiskey flasks, with their corks still intact,
were pulled from their hiding place.
A large brown bottle baring the label "Speers Peruvian Bark...for fever
and appetizer...take 4 times a day" was also found, as well as a heavy
yellow and tan piece of pottery that Larisa believes may be of English
origin. Two old wooden shoe molds and a large handmade belt buckle were
also removed from the walls' confines.
Perhaps the bottles had been disposed of there by a tavern customer, or
concealed by a rule-breaker during the temperance movements or
Prohibition. Perhaps a traveler from England forgot to place the
colorful piece of pottery back in his coach when he departed Wyoming.
Perhaps the belt buckle was shaped and molded by Francis Brown himself,
lying untouched by other's hands for centuries.
Another thing that supposedly remains somewhere within the shadows of
the inn is "Oliver".
Legend has long held that the ancient ghost of a man haunts the
Stagecoach Inn. Charles Duksta, who once ran his antiques business in
the building said he had heard the story of Oliver long before he began
working there.
"And strange things did happen while I was there," he said recently.
"I'd come in to open up in the morning and the lights wouldn't work.
Then I'd see that all the light bulbs had been unscrewed. Sometimes I'd
be standing at the counter and all the hair on the back of my neck would
suddenly stand up for no reason."
Duksta said he doesn't know when the legend started.
"I just know that his name is supposed to be Oliver and that he died
somewhere on the property in the 1800s," he said.
Larisa plans to display the bottles and shoe molds on the inn's
fireplace mantle.
"We had to take so many dumpsters of stuff out of here and this is what
we were able to keep," she said, happily reinspecting her find.
And as for Oliver?
"We didn't find Oliver," she said.
©The Chariho Times 2002