Volunteer Discovers Potentially Valuable Items Belonging to Wayside Inn

When Kevin Kennedy began his quest, he was hoping to track down a rare document. So far he hasn’t been successful in his goal. But what he did find came as a surprise – a potentially very valuable surprise.

Kennedy is volunteering with the Archivist at the Longfellow’s Wayside Inn, hoping to locate a copy of the Declaration of Independence that went missing from the inn in December 1955 when much of the property was destroyed by fire.

Though he has yet to locate this item, he was in contact with the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C. The group told Kennedy that they have in stewardship seven items that belong to the Wayside Inn, historic items that can now be returned to Sudbury more than 50 years after they were taken into the organization’s possession.

Among the items that the Wayside Inn is now working to regain possession of are a Sheffield silver urn, a collection of Georgian flat silver, a pair of silhouettes by Charles Wilson Peale, a Bennington cuspidor, a blown glass paperweight, a Sheraton slipper chair and a silhouette of Mary Hastings of Deleware.

The Georgian flat silverware, in particular, is likely extremely valuable, Kennedy said. It has not been appraised for decades, so taking into account inflation and the increased value in silver, Kennedy believes it could be worth around $100,000 conservatively.

When the Wayside Inn officially has possession of the items from the National Trust, the group can do whatever it would like with the items, potentially selling them if interested.

“They’re thrilled. They didn’t know,” said Kennedy. “Boards always change and innkeepers change. We’re talking about something that was over 50 years ago. So it changes and people don’t understand paperwork. It gets lost in the shuffle. We’re talking a lot of money though."

As far as his original search, Kennedy has had no luck so far finding the William Stone engraved copy of the Declaration of Independence that was hanging in the Wayside Inn the night of the 1955 fire.

The Inn has the historic letter that goes along with the Declaration, which was hanging on the wall next to it that night. The letter talks about that particular copy of the Declaration of Independence, but historians have told Kennedy in his research that while it is interesting, it has no value unless it is paired with the actual item.

But Kennedy has not been deterred in his quest. And he hopes the latest bit of good news in discovering the Wayside Inn's items could end up sparking the search back up.

"I think one thing leads to another too. Who knows," said Kennedy. "The fact that we found these items, maybe someone will say that they’ve also seen (the Declaration of Independence). The hope is that it’s been held in stewardship, but it’s kind of a long shot."