THE SHARON DUCK INN

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227 Dedham Street (Route 1A), Norfolk, MA
The single story Sharon Luncheonette was built by Charles Sharon, circa 1924. Mr Sharon had been a foreman at the internationally famous Weber Duck Inn (pronounced Wee-ber) a short distance west on 1A (which burned to the ground in 1958). He left to operate his own restaurant and raise White Pekin Ducks, by the thousands, specializing in selling duck dinners and dressed ducks. The building served as a restaurant under several changes in name and ownership - The Sharon Duck Inn, The Shady Nook Restaurant, Bob Kirby’s Clonmel Arms, Rooney's and Pickwick's Inn and Pub until it was destroyed by fire in 1981 because there was no town water at the intersection of Routes 1A and 115. Walpole firefighters, shuttling water from a hydrant nearly a mile away, used two tank trucks with a total capacity of 1800 gallons. The rear of the building, which housed the kitchen (where the fire was thought to originate after closing at 2:00 AM), the main foyer and the barroom were destroyed. Relatively untouched by the fire but damaged by water and smoke was the dining room with its 20-foot high vaulted ceiling, rare irreplaceable cypress wood paneling and old duck decoys. The building was rebuilt and converted to a two-story office building in 1987. Although it has lost much of its original design, charm and feeling, the new building was able to incorporate some of the remains of the former restaurant into its structure, where it now stands duckless, as the single story portion of the building.

 

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