Gathering Places in Colonial Williamsburg

Centuries before Starbucks became our country’s “third space,” (home being the first, work or public endeavors being the second, casual community gatherings being the third space), colonists conversed with neighbors and friends in taverns and cafés.

In Colonial Williamsburg, more prominent persons ate and drank in taverns like Wetherburn’s (pictured above), Shields, Raleigh, King’s Arms, or Chowning’s, while commoners and slaves gathered in cafés like Charlton’s Coffeehouse.

Before 1776, Williamsburg’s residents were Englishmen and women. Although smugglers often took advantage of Virginia’s many seaside coves and inlets to bring sugar directly from Barbados, the laws of King George III dictated that sugar was to be transported from Barbados to England to be taxed and then to the colonies. This was true for other imports as well. Owners of Williamsburg’s taverns and cafes depended on imports for supplies they could not furnish from their own or local dairies, kitchens, farms, smokehouses, and wells.

In mid-1700s, Williamsburg was home to the House of Burgesses of the Colony of Virginia—the equivalent of a state capital. During seasons when the burgesses were in session, the town’s gathering places and inns were especially busy.

   

Where might George Washington have stopped with fellow land surveyors to speculate on western Virginia property and dine on roast pheasant? Wetherburn’s Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg. Where might colonists go to a ball? The great room Henry Wetherburn built on the back of his popular tavern/inn.

We found dining rooms on Wetherburn’s first floor interesting, as inventories kept in the 1700s have allowed restorers to furnish dining rooms with authentic types of tables, chairs, and tableware. One dining room was for people who could not pay as much as people in the other dining room, which was decorated with mirrors, a rarity back in the day.

Upstairs, sleeping rooms also reflected economics. Travelers who paid less slung their saddlebags over the bedpost and slept two to a bed. It was considered courteous to introduce yourself to the stranger sharing your bed! Travelers paying more had their own beds and even a trunk in which to stash belongings.