by Chrysa Smith

My husband and I share a brain.
Yep, I’m the right side; he’s got the left covered.
I’m the classic romantic dreamer—writer, lover of beauty, nature, philosophy. I can get lost in my thoughts, dreams, head.

He, on the other hand, is a pragmatist. He’s got an accounting degree, his own business and a whole bunch of deals thrown into the air at once like a Vaudeville juggler. He’s bottom-line, financially-anchored, better with figures than with words.

So imagine then my surprise, when accompanying him on a business trip to Massachusetts, that he should take me to the Wayside Inn–a 300+ year old historial landmark, frequented and owned for a period, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.This surely made up for a mediocre lunch at a ‘has-been’ diner somewhere along the CT Turnpike.

Trendy? No. Cutting edge chef? I doubt it. But one of my pet peeves about restaurants is that they know what they can do well, and do it—well. And they did.
My Boston Schrod was absolutely delicious. Mark’s Yankee Pot Roast made his evening. You get the idea: ‘Ye good olde New England fare. And of course, the ambience was—well—-here, let me turn over my soapbox to someone who has done it before—a few words from Mr. Longfellow himself:

A region of repose it seems,
A place of slumber and of dreams,
Remote among the wooded hills!
For there no noisy railway speeds,
Its torch-race scattering smoke and gleeds;
But noon and night, the panting teams
Stop under the great oaks, that throw
Tangles of light and shade below

It’s a must-see if you find yourself in Sudbury, Mass—maybe an hour and a half west of Boston. Not really because it’s colonial. God knows we have our daily fill of stones and historic markings here in Bucks County, PA. But you’ve got to take a minute to walk the land and eat the food at this bucolic outpost that another dreamer found as lovely 150 years ago. I’m certain that I will return again in fine weather—to see what that Nor’easter wouldn’t expose to me that dark and rainy night, when oaks were bare and dim of sight. (Sorry, Henry—I couldn’t resist!)Located off Rt. 20, Sudbury, MA. www.wayside.org.

Have you been to Wayside? Or have another destination restaurant to recommend? Let us know about it. Click on COMMENT and leave yours.

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