John Kenneth Byard was a lawyer and an antiques collector and dealer from Norwalk, Connecticut. During the 1930s, he purchased an old house, mill, and other structures along the Silvermine River outside Norwalk and opened the Silvermine Tavern and Galleries. The complex included a restaurant, a small inn, an antiques shop, and a barn which had been converted to an apartment with an artist's studio. Byard collected and sold early American furniture and other items of decorative arts. Chief among his clients were Henry and Helen Flynt, who restored Deerfield, Massachusetts, Ellerton and Edith Jette of Waterville, Maine, and Electra Havemeyer and Watson Webb, who began Shelburne Museum in Vermont. Byard died in 1959, leaving his widow, Dorothy Randolph Byard. Part of his collection was auctioned by Parke-Bernet in March 1960. Gates Moore, a cabinetmaker, accompanied Mr. Byard on buying trips. Moore would vet the furniture, and Byard would negotiate the price. Later, Moore made and sold reproduction lighting fixtures, a business probably carried out on the Silvermine Tavern property. Moore's relatives continue to run the Silvermine Tavern as a restaurant and inn.
From the description of Papers, 1928-1961, 1969-1975, 1945-1960 (bulk dates). (Winterthur Library). WorldCat record id: 261233501
