The Kinsale Inn Restaurant and Pub

History of the Kinsale Inn

The Inn was built in 1799 and is the oldest seaside Inn in the nation, still operating as an Inn, in it’s original structure.

Over the years, the Inn has been a Blacksmith Shop, a General Store, two separate dwellings, a tavern, a Ship Chandlers, a Storehouse for the China Tea Trade, a Speakeasy and, of course, an Inn.

Built in the 1790’s by Joseph Meigs, a master carpenter in the shipyards, he used the building as his home and also established the twin business of tavern and general store. The tavern was perhaps the busiest part of the Squire’s domain, as the men of Mattapoisett were known to be a hearty lot. Proof of this is brought to light by the custom at one time observed by the shipyards known as “eleven an four”. At eleven o’clock and four o’clock each day the men took a break and the boss furnished the rum for refreshment.

The most famous person to live in the Inn was Captain Bryant, a Mattapoisett whaling captain and first Governor of Alaska. Tradition tells us that Captain Bryant spent many hours, sitting on the open upper porch of the Inn, dictating or writing his memoirs. There has not been an owner of the old Inn who has not dreamed of one day finding these documents.

Today, townsfolk and innkeeper alike strive to keep the stories and traditions of the past alive and also to make a bit of the history their own. Visitors leave and return to the village with pleasant memories of the dancing and concerts in Shipyard Park, the striped bass and other fish they caught at the end of the town wharf, the beautiful sailing weather on the blue waters of buzzards bay, the New England-style comfort, and the sumptuous food they enjoyed at the Mattapoisett Inn. The Kinsale Inn at Mattapoisett will continue this tradition adding to it our authentic Irish fare and hospitality.