When your wedding anniversary falls on Thanksgiving weekend, it’s wise to celebrate well before the big feast.

That’s how we found ourselves at Durham’s Three Chimneys Inn, parking alongside an ancient cemetery next to the 1649 building and walking up a hill to its entrance.

Scores for Three Chimneys

Atmosphere: 20/20

Menu: 17/20

Food: 18/20

Service: 18/20

Value: 16/20

Total: 89/100

The inn, its tavern, and restaurant are in one of the oldest homes in New Hampshire. The site started life as part of a land grant to 17th-century entrepreneur Valentine Hill. The original home’s outdoor summer kitchen fireplace still exists in the inn’s ffrost (that’s not a typo) Sawyer Tavern.

The basement tavern was fully booked, so we were directed from the check-in desk (the inn has 23 rooms) to

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