Gadsby's Tavern Museum

Here follows an excerpt from the Atlas Obscura website:

Gadsby's Tavern
Alexandria, Virginia
This colonial tavern played host to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and other famous early Americans.

Built in 1785, Gadsby’s Tavern in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, just across the river from Washington, D.C., was one of the premier establishments in the area back when the United States was just a fledgling nation.

Counted among the Gadsby’s famous guests are several American Founding Fathers, as well as the French hero of the Revolutionary War, General Marquis de Lafayette. Presidents George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe are all known to have visited the tavern; Jefferson, a native Virginian, even held his inaugural ball here.

Yet despite being host to such prominent dignitaries, Gadsby’s Tavern was frequented by guests of more common means as well. In an era where the average white male earned between $1.00 and $1.50 per day, Gadsby’s charged 50 cents for a meal with beer or cider included. To spend the night at at the inn cost only 20 cents, though guests would have to squeeze together, with up to three people sharing each bed.

By the early 1900s, Gadsby’s had been renamed as the City Hotel and Tavern and was no longer seen as the fashionable destination it had once been. Over the subsequent decades, the tavern closed and fell into disrepair. The city began plans to demolish the structure, but it was saved by the local chapter of the American Legion, who repaired the building and used it as their lodge.

Today the building operates as both a museum preserving an approximation of what the building looked like in its colonial heyday, and as the Gadsby’s Tavern Restaurant, which serves menu items inspired by what would have been served in the colonial era.

Know Before You Go
Check the website for hours, as they are seasonal.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Clio Foundation website about the Gadsby's Tavern Museum as written by Alex Wemm:

Introduction:
Built approximately in 1785 by John Gadsby, this tavern played a part of the lives of our founding fathers. Founding fathers such as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and George Washington are recorded as visitors of this tavern. This tavern survived the Revolutionary War completely intact, and flourished in the new country. The tavern was transformed into a museum during the twentieth century after facing the possibility of demolition. The site remains a part of the historic district of the city Alexandria, and still functions both as a restaurant and as a museum. Restored to the similar internal structures of the original facility, the tavern represents the relationship the past has with the present.

Backstory and Context:
Gadsby's Tavern is a historic commercial building located in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. The site actually consists of two buildings: a tavern built around 1785 (enlarged in 1792), and the 1792 City Hotel. The tavern is named for John Gadsby, who leased and operated the tavern and hotel from 1796 to 1808.

Gadsby's was not the first tavern built on this location, having been preceded by the Mason's Ordinary (1749 to 1752), and another tavern which operated in the 1770s. In 1782, John Wise purchased the defunct lot on which he constructed the existing Georgian-style tavern in 1785 and the Federal City Tavern in 1792. The City Tavern, which was the most popular tavern in Alexandria at the time, was leased by Englishman John Gadsby in 1796. When he renewed the lease in 1802, he extended it to include the smaller building.

As an important hub of social, economic, political, and educational life of the city of Alexandria, this popular establishment was frequented by some of the most notable individuals in early American history. George Washington was a regular guest at Gadsby's, and he twice attended the annual Birthnight Ball held in his honor. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and the Marquis de La Fayetteare also counted amongst the distinguished guests of Gadsby's Tavern.

Following John Gadsby's death in 1815, ownership of the tavern passed to a number of different individuals. The buildings served as taverns, lawyers' offices, auction houses, and perhaps even as hospitals during the American Civil War. By the turn of the 20th Century, however, the tavern had fallen into complete disrepair and housed various retail shops.

On May 21, 1917, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City moved the tavern's historic ballroom to New York. The Met also purchased additional architectural elements, such as the unique musicians gallery, cornice, door frames, and several mantelpieces. The American Wing on the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened a permanent installation of the recreated Gadsby's Tavern Ballroom on November 11, 1924. Original ballroom woodwork from the tavern is still on display today.

Threatened with demolition, F. Clinton Knight and the American Legion Post 24, along with other groups, began extensive restoration efforts to save the tavern. Reopened in 1976, Gadsby's Tavern now houses American Legion Post 24, a cultural history museum about the early American life in Virginia, and a restaurant. The restaurant is located in the original dining room and serves a mix of period and modern foods. Nearby is St. Paul's Cemetery, where a table-like grave marker for the "Female Stranger" is located. According to local legend, the ghost of the woman buried there haunts the cemetery and the room in which she died, Room 8 of Gadsby's Tavern.

Gadsby's Tavern is part of the American Whiskey Trail.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Fall 2006 edition of the "Franconia Legacies" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:

Governor Pierpont and Colonel Mosby
written by Don Hakenson

During the War Between the States Gadsby’s Tavern was known as the City Hotel. It was the City Hotel where the Lincoln appointed Union Governor Francis H. Pierpont made his quarters as the leader of the “Restored Government” of Virginia. Naming Pierpont the Governor of Virginia when Virginia had already seceded from the Union made many southerners steaming mad.

Guerilla Chieftain John S. Mosby called Pierpont the bogus governor and twice tried unsuccessfully to catch him. Mosby failed in his first attempt because Pierpont was called to Washington City by Lincoln, so he instead captured Pierpont’s aid Colonel Daniel F. Dulany while he was residing at the Rose Hill plantation on Franconia Road on September 28, 1863. This was the raid where Ranger D. French Dulany helped Mosby capture his own father.

On his next attempt, Mosby failed again when he and approximately forty men made it as far as four miles outside of the city of Alexandria on the Telegraph Road on June 9, 1864. Unfortunately for Mosby, and fortunately for Pierpont a Yankee sympathizer discovered Mosby and his men camping in the woods, and notified the authorities in Alexandria that Mosby was in the area. Mosby found out about this, aborted his plan and went back to Fauquier County.

Governor Pierpont was not exactly ignorant of Mosby’s desires. Pierpont realized that he was a target when he received a most unusual correspondence while staying at the City Hotel. The message read, “You did not see the farmer who rode by your hotel on a hay wagon yesterday, did you Governor? My driver pointed out your window, and I marked it plain. It’s just over the bay, and I’ll get you some night, mighty easy.”

This bravado was signed by none other than the Gray Ghost himself. The famous partisan leader had already captured Brigadier General Edwin Stoughton, in Fairfax City without a single shot being fired in the early morning hours of March 9, 1863. Mosby must have wanted Pierpont very badly to plan two such raids. It must have been one of Mosby’s biggest regrets during the war in not snaring the pretend Governor of Virginia. Pierpont only laughed at the insolence of Mosby’s message, as he laughed at all the threats that came his way.

Francis H. Pierpont was born in Monongahela County, Virginia on January 25, 1814. After graduating from Alleghany (Pennsylvania) College in 1838, he taught in Mississippi, studied law, and finally came back to his birth state to practice at Fairmont, Marion County, Virginia. After his term of office as governor of Virginia expired in 1868 he returned to Fairmont (now West Virginia). In 1870 he was elected a member of the West Virginia Legislature, and later served as Federal Internal Revenue Collector. Although Pierpont is considered the “Father of West Virginia,” he never served as governor of the State.


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Here follows an excerpt from the "Jaybird's Jottings" blog in 2010 as written by Jay Roberts:

Old Town Alexandria Commemorative Plaques:
Gadsby’s Tavern
138 N. Royal

In a conversation I had a couple of weeks ago with a docent, the subject of Old Town’s “most historically rich” spots came up. We both agreed Gadsby’s Tavern was one such place, and perhaps the number one place. The six plaques (four on front, one by the underground ice well, and one inside) there testify to that belief.

In colonial days, Gadsby’s five star establishment, hotel and tavern, was the center of social, business and political activity, a bustling place that eclipsed anything the young city of Washington could offer. In the tavern’s grand ballroom, Gadsby entertained Washington and the next four Presidents. Washington’s Birth Night Ball was held here in 1798 and 1799 and famous guests such as Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette graced the corner spot.

In 1928 the American Legion purchased the house and with the help of other organizations in the city, they restored it. In the mid 60s, this corner sport was one of the few on this block that survived the wrecking ball that made way for Urban Renewal.

Guided tours are available. Even if you don’t go on one, be sure and walk down the spiraling stairs at the corner, which takes you down to the ice well.

And, if you want to impress your out of town guests, take them to dinner here when the sun is setting. The early-American food is not very good when we last went, but the place goes 18th Century authentic when the sun goes down, a reminder of what life was like all those years ago.