Tavern on Mutton Hill

The Tavern on Mutton Hill stands in a cluster of residential buildings in an otherwise rural area of northeastern Charlotte, on the west side of Church Hill Road south of its junction with Mutton Hill Road. It is a 2+1⁄2-story brick structure, with a redstone foundation and window sills. The gable ends each have two chimneys, joined by a raised parapet. The front facade is six bays wide, with the main entrance set in the bay left of center; it is topped by a rectangular transom with a sunburst pattern. The interior retains period woodwork and finishes, although there have been numerous alterations, including the removal of some walls and the addition of partitions. The former ballroom space on the second floor, extending across the front of the building, has survived with little alteration.^[2]

The tavern was built in 1813 by Nathaniel Newell, the son of the local Congregationalist minister Abel Newell, who died the previous year in a typhus epidemic. Newell was the town's wealthiest citizen and a prominent civic leader, serving in the state legislature. In addition to owning this tavern (where he lived with his family), he owned a local tannery, and a dry goods store in Burlington. The tavern is located on what was formerly the principal stagecoach route through Charlotte, and an early alignment of United States Route 7. The tavern was owned by the Edgerton family for more than a century after passing out of the hands of the Newell family.^[2]

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Chittenden County, Vermont