tollhouse

Tollhouse is a term with several related uses. Historically, a tollhouse is a small structure where tolls are collected from road or canal users. Tollhouses were common along turnpikes in Britain from the 18th to 19th centuries and often housed the toll keeper and the gate. The design varied, but many followed a simple plan with a doorway and window for the keeper, a small living area, and space for a gate or barrier. When toll collection shifted to automated systems, many tollhouses were repurposed as dwellings, museums, or left as relics on heritage routes.

In the United States and other regions, roads and bridges maintained toll houses for a time; today they are less common, though some preserved examples are listed on heritage registers.

The name is also associated with the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, where Ruth Graves Wakefield is credited with inventing the chocolate chip cookie in 1938. Nestlé later marketed its Toll House chocolate chips under the Toll House brand, and the term became widely associated with baking products.

Tollhouse, California, is an unincorporated community in Fresno County named after a toll house that stood on an old toll road. It lies in the foothills near the Sierra Nevada and appears on regional maps as a small, rural locality.