Long before it was an inn, the building on Main Street in Woodbury was a private home. Anthony Stoddard built it in 1736, and it stayed in the same lineage of owners for generations before opening its doors to travelers in 1754, giving the property its name and a claim as one of Connecticut’s oldest working inns. The Curtiss family ran it as a roadside stop for the better part of two centuries, welcoming guests along a route through the Pomperaug Valley that predates the state itself.
Chef Michael Bates-Walsh bought the building in March 2020 and reopened it that June, restoring the colonial brick chimneys and wide-plank floors while adding a working kitchen, tavern, and 17 guest rooms split between the main house and an adjoining Carriage House. Woodbury has earned its reputation as Connecticut’s antiques capital, and 1754 House sits right in the middle of it, a rare case where the inn is older than most of what it’s selling.