129 Silver Street
Owned since 1952 by the John Foley family, this home was standing before 1778. Most of the original home was destroyed in an 1825 fire, but it was rebuilt in 1826 by owner Elisha Woodbury. For many years it stood along on Plum Pudding Hill (the high ground between Lexington and Arch in Dover City) and served as a tavern called Farmer’s Hotel with livery stables, a bowling green, and a carriage-roofed barn that has been preserved. Woodbury sold to Nathan Clark of Somersworth in 1832, and he, and his widow Mary Jane after him, ran Ye Clarke’s Tavern here until 1851. A large beech tree thrives now where the tavern was located and the Woodman Institute has possession of a lawn bowling ball from Clarke’s Tavern
Robert Christy bought the property in 1851 and lived her nearly 40 years. The home then passed through several owners, being Victorianized somewhat during the 19th century. Several of the eight fireplaces (five of which still work) are decorated formally in imported Italian tile.
Around 1921, the Hopkins family sold the house to Charles and Caroline Eaton and the ell was extended and remodeled. A columned patio was added on the east side. The tavern fireplace in the kitchen was restored by the present owners in 1969, and a rare Camperdown elm still lives on the front lawn, imported long ago from Europe.
From the 1999 Heritage Walking Tour booklet