Seven Hills Foundation re-opening Stearns Tavern

Photo | Courtesy Stearns Tavern is called by the group Preservation Worcester the best-preserved of Worcester's long-ago era of taverns along old travel routes.

Write a Comment

By Grant Welker

The Seven Hills Foundation is opening a workforce training program and cafe in the former historic Stearns Tavern.

The foundation held a grand opening ceremony with city officials and others Tuesday morning.

The building, which dates to 1812, was moved in 2016 to Mill Street on a site next to Coes Park. It had been located less than a half-mile away at 651 Park Ave., where it was most recently used as a bank, with a 1,400-square-foot main house and a 1,300-square-foot annex.

The Seven Hills Foundation, a Worcester health and human services agency, will use the building for workforce training programs for participants in its programs. A cafe is included in the project, and other space is available for community use.

Preservation Worcester, the group that owns and helped restore Stearns Tavern, calls the structure the best-preserved and best-documented of only two old-time-era taverns still left standing in the city, and one of few remaining Federalist style buildings. It was originally built on Main Street and moved in 1974 to Park Avenue.

Moving and rehabilitating the building received $900,000 in funding from the city, $150,000 in federal funding, and more than $1 million in in-kind and monetary donations from 115 private sector firms, unions, nonprofit and private organizations, according to the city.