Tavernkeeper Henry Wetherburn catered to Virginia’s elite. His establishment on Williamsburg’s Duke of Gloucester Street provided lodging, food, and entertainment that met the expectations of the most discriminating colonial clientele.

A comparison of the Bowcock inventory of 1729/30 and the Wetherburn inventory of 1760 (the year he died) show articles that could have appeared in both: it would be difficult to determine much about the beds and bedding: both inventories listed leather chairs (some noted as "old" in Wetherburn's), both listed oval walnut tables, pictures ...

It has been argued that Doncastle rented an unidentified Wetherburn house and not the tavern. However, we do know that the term house was used to described Wetherburn's Tavern (Virginia Gazette, April 22, 1757). When Doncastle gave up tavern keeping in Williamsburg he announced "… the House I now live in is to Rented…"

Get a glimpse into the private lives of Henry Wetherburn, his family, and his enslaved peoples, who made the tavern one of the most successful of the 1750s. The tavern and the dairy out back are both original buildings.

This original eighteenth-century building, expanded to its present size after 1751, housed one of the best known taverns in Williamsburg. It bears the name of its builder and first owner, Henry Wetherburn, who previously operated the Raleigh Tavern across the street.

Get a glimpse into the private lives of Henry Wetherburn, his family, and his enslaved peoples, who made the tavern one of the most successful of the 1750s. The tavern and the dairy out back are both original buildings.

It began in the 1740s as a five-bay house or tavern with a pair of rooms on both sides of the stair passage. By 1751 Henry Wetherburn had added a large entertaining space, called the great room, at the west end, embellished with a baroque marble mantel and lighted by six closely spaced windows.

Wetherburn's Tavern. 1965 - 1966. Bland-Wetherburn House Block 9, Lots #20 and #21 (#21 & 22 ?)

Archaeological Excavations on Colonial Lots 21 and Parts of lots 20 & 22. Wetherburn's Tavern. 1965 - 1966.