The structure was built in 1851 as a private residence by Amasa Scott, a successful local merchant, dairy innovator and early proponent of women’s rights. Around the same time, Amasa donated land and lent funds to construct the Craftsbury Town Hall, still in service, to bolster the standing of the village as a center for commerce and discourse. 

After the Scott family passed, the building served as a retail store, a finishing school for girls (“The Pinell School”) and a boarding house for students at Craftsbury Academy. 

In 1935, the Lyon sisters opened the Lyonhurst Inn, which became the Craftbury Inn and Restaurant in 1945. Since then, the house was an inn, restaurant & bar until December 2012 when it was put up for auction as a result of foreclosure.

The subsequent owners strove to revitalize and open the property to the community. In December 2013 it was donated to the foundation protecting and caring for the Craftsbury Outdoor Center. After contributing generously to restoration of the land and building, and understanding the community, the property was “donated forward” to Forestille Foundation (dba Craftsbury Public House).

Amasa Scott genealogy: https://archive.org/stream/scottgenealogyde00holm/scottgenealogyde00holm_djvu.txt 

Amasa Scott was a dairy innovator, see Annual Report of the Board of Agriculture:
https://books.google.com/books? id=tG04AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA269&lpg=PA269&dq=amasa+scott+dairy&source=bl&ots=yfqtz0UVkm&sig=M0xSv1Xt1b3hZBHQjtobDJ_KeuQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjLgqLktfHPAhUGQiYKHV6jC4IQ6AEILDAD#v=onepage&q=amasa%20scott&f=false