Cobb's Tavern

Situated close to the road on 3/4 of an acre of land, Cobb's Tavern,c.1740, is the last structure remaining from an original complex which included barns, a blacksmith shop, and other outbuildings. Granite hitching posts, each with a wrought iron pin in the top, still stand along the roadway. The structure consists of the original building, a 2-story addition on the = south side, and a 2-story carriage shed connected to the addition by an enclosed passageway. The structure is typical of New England Colonial construction, with a ridge roof, clapboard walls, corner boards and a dry stone foundation. There is a generous cornice return on the end and front pavillion gables. The structure, 7 bays wide, consists of five rooms built around a central chimney.

They include the tap room, kitchen and living room on the first floor, and two rooms on the second floor, all with fire- places. Entrance to the tap room is through a double leaf door, each leaf 2 inches thick, whose exterior boards run horizontally and interior boards run vertically. One leaf is fitted with a wood astragal. The doors are hung with wrought iron strap hinges. Within the tap room; the 15' pine bar is still intact and a small writing desk for the Post Office patrons is attached to one of the walls. The floor joists are logs with the top side flattened to receive the floor, which consists of rough sawn oak boards topped by a pine floor running in the same direction as the sub-floor.

In this section, the windows have 6/6 sash and the front entrance has narrow lights halfway up on each side, with panelling below.

Cobb's Tavern is located on the Old Bay Road, one of the country's most ancient highways, halfway between Boston and the Taunton Green. The Old Bay Road was a throughway for the entire locality for more than a century before the Revolution and a half century after it. The tavern has been a focal point of 'town activities throughout its history, serving, at various times, as a stage coach stop, Masonic Lodge, circus location, and meeting place for various societies. The original house was built in 1740. It was enlarged in the early 1800's, probably when Jonathan Cobb bought it for use as a stage coach stop and store. Cobb's Tavern became the first United States Post Ofiice in Sharon when Jonathan Cobb was appointed postmaster in 1819.

Jeremiah Gould, in his Annals of Sharon,Mass., published in 1830, says "Cobb's Tavern was the post office to which the daily mail was brought by stage over the Boston-to- Taunton Turnpike. Once a week the mail was sent from here to the center of the town". Sharon had 1,000 residents in 1819 when the post office was established. The Boston Globe of August 6, 1905, in an article concerning the tavern, said, "Among the historic roadside inns in New England, none have a more interesting history than has Cobb's Tavern in East Sharon. In 1819 Jonathan Cobb was appointed Postmaster for Sharon, the mail at that time being brought to his office in stagecoaches.

In the distribution of the mail among the people of the town, the school children were given letters being broughe ta as ointed Postnaster to deliver on their way to school.