About Lady Gosford

Lady Gosford, the wife of Archibald Charles Montague Brabazon Acheson, the fifth Earl of Gosford, used the Matteson home (Topping Tavern), East Road, Shaftsbury, as a summer residence, as well as a place to develop her collection of American antiques. On occasion in the summer the congregation met for the celebration of baptisms and the Holy Eucharist in the meadow accross from the main house.

Topping Tavern owes much of its present existence to Lady Gosford who purchased the property in 1926 from Mahala Matteson Nash, the great grand-daughter of Peter Matteson, the original tavern keeper. Grandma Moses was a regular guest at Topping Tavern and celebrated her 99th birthday there. Lady Gosford appreciated the tavern's original features and interrupted little of the building's architectural integrity with the introduction of modern conveniences.

Following Lady Gosford's death in 1967, the tavern passed under her will to the Bennington Museum, and opened as a museum in 1970. It is one of the most well-documented 18th century buildings in Vermont and is important in that it is an accredited living museum that operates as a farm tavern would have in 1800, complete with specially developed breeds of animals of the period and the live interpretation of 18th century crafts and domestic practices. The Bennington Museum sold the tavern several years ago, and it is now maintained as a private residence.

Return to the History of St. Peter's.