Home does not always belong to just one place. Sometimes, it lives in the flavors remembered from childhood, the stories shared around a crowded table, and the traditions carried from one community to another. Over time, those memories find their way into new places, creating traditions of their own and bringing different worlds together in meaningful and unexpected ways.
That sense of connection is woven into the story of The Inn at Hastings Park, where Lexington’s unmistakable New England character meets a personal journey that began much farther south. It is a story shaped by heritage, hospitality, and a love of bringing people together – creating a place where the traditions of the past continue to inspire memorable experiences today.
Our owner, Trisha Pérez Kennealy, grew up in Puerto Rico, surrounded by a multigenerational family in which food and storytelling were important parts of everyday life. Her family later moved to Lexington, and years afterward she returned to the community with her own family, ultimately creating the Inn in the town that had become another home. Today, those two places are woven into the personality of the Inn in ways that can be felt through its hospitality, its culinary experiences, and the stories shared around the table.
When Heritage Finds Its Way to the Table
At the Inn, culture comes to life through food, where every meal has the opportunity to tell a story through ingredients, traditions, memories, and places, creating connections that feel both meaningful and personal.
Our Town Meeting Bistro celebrates the bounty of New England through seasonal menus shaped by local suppliers and inspired by the cultural diversity of the people who call this region home. Throughout the year, the table becomes a place where heritage and place come together, inviting guests to experience different traditions, flavors, and stories through food.
That connection takes center stage on September 15 with a special Farm to Vine Dinner featuring Bodega Numanthia and Lexington Community Farm, an evening created in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. Thoughtfully prepared dishes, expressive Spanish wines, and locally grown ingredients come together around the same table, creating an inviting culinary experience that celebrates culture, community, and the connections that can be discovered through food.
The dinner reflects the spirit of the Inn’s Farm to Vine series, where wine, agriculture, and cuisine are treated as parts of the same story rather than separate elements of a meal, while the collaboration with Lexington Community Farm keeps the experience grounded firmly in the landscape just beyond our doors.
With Bodega Numanthia bringing the character of Spanish winemaking to Lexington and the local farm providing ingredients rooted in the community, the evening becomes a fitting expression of what Hispanic Heritage Month can represent here: different places and traditions finding common ground through food.
When Food Becomes a Canvas
Culture can also come to life visually, inviting us to experience a sense of place through color, creativity, and artistic expression. The Art of Taste: Culinary Mural Experience brings another vibrant dimension to the Inn’s seasonal programming, where creativity and cuisine come together to create an engaging experience designed to inspire the senses.
Food and art share a natural language of color, texture, memory, and personal interpretation, each offering its own way to tell a story and express identity. Bringing those worlds together feels especially meaningful during a month dedicated to celebrating cultural heritage and the many ways it can be experienced, shared, and remembered.
Rather than experiencing dining only through what arrives on the plate, The Art of Taste invites guests to discover food from a new perspective. Visual storytelling and culinary creativity come together in the same moment, creating an experience that encourages guests to look, taste, connect, and find inspiration in the relationship between art and cuisine.
That spirit of creativity feels right at home at the Inn, a property shaped by layers of history, design, food, and personal influence. Together, those elements create a distinctive sense of place where different stories and perspectives can come together – and where every experience offers guests another way to connect with the character of the Inn.
For guests planning a September visit, pairing a culinary event with an artistic experience can create a richer way to engage with the season, especially when both invite you to slow down, notice the details, and think about the stories behind what you are seeing and tasting.
A Taste of Puerto Rico, Made Together
The celebration continues on September 16 with perhaps the most personal culinary experience of the month.
Our Supper Club Series turns its attention to Welcome to Puerto Rico, giving guests the opportunity to experience Puerto Rican cuisine through the Inn’s interactive dinner-party format, where participants take part in preparing the meal before sitting down together to enjoy the results.
That hands-on element feels particularly appropriate here because recipes connected to family and heritage rarely live only on a printed page; they are often learned by standing beside someone, tasting along the way, listening to stories connected to particular ingredients, and gradually understanding why a dish matters beyond the way it tastes.
Cooking together allows that exchange to become part of the evening, transforming dinner from something simply served into something shared and making the connection to Puerto Rico feel personal rather than purely thematic.
For Trisha’s story in particular, food becomes a meaningful bridge between the place where her childhood began and the Lexington community that later became home, giving guests an opportunity to experience that connection in perhaps the most natural setting of all: around a table.
Stay Long Enough to Experience Lexington, Too
Hispanic Heritage Month may provide the reason for a visit, but it does not have to define every hour of the getaway, especially when Lexington offers so many opportunities to experience the landscape, history, and character that form the other half of the Inn’s story.
After an evening of wine, cooking, or artistic exploration, settle into our rooms and suites, which are spread across the Inn’s historic buildings and designed to balance Lexington character with contemporary comfort, allowing the experience to continue long after the final course has been served.
The following morning can unfold more slowly before heading outside to discover Lexington itself, where historic sites, green spaces, walking and cycling opportunities, and nearby destinations provide plenty of ways to explore.
Lexington Battle Green is close by, while the wider area offers access to Walden Pond, the Minuteman Bikeway, and other places where history and landscape are closely connected. Our Lexington guide can help turn a culinary visit into a fuller exploration of this remarkable corner of Massachusetts.
Within the story of The Inn at Hastings Park, Puerto Rican memories, Lexington traditions, Spanish wine, local agriculture, culinary creativity, and art can all find a place at the same table, creating a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration that feels personal, generous, and unmistakably connected to the people and places that shaped it.
