New Hartford Historical Society

Palmer's Inn was located in Middle Settlement. Although there are no records of purchase or land grant, Agrippa and Eliza Wells were the first known settlers and probably erected the building in the late years of the 18th Century.

​

Obscurity hides the history of the Wells family, who seem to have disappeared from this section after selling their property to Joshua Palmer in 1835.  Palmer was born in Connecticut in 1778 and migrated at an early date to New Hartford. Little is known of his early life.

​

Palmer's Inn, was a name that grew famous on the turnpike. Constructed as a toll road in 1800, the turnpike created the need for taverns and inns.

​

The inn served as a stagecoach stop where tired stage teams were changed for fresh horses. A large front hall led to the barroom and on the right opened into the living room. The upper floor contained a spacious kitchen where travelers' foods were prepared. Also, a huge ballroom once occupied the entire front of the building.

 

The Inn was torn down when the Nichols Shopping center was built in the 1960s.