Virginia Taverns, Ordinaries and Coffee Houses: 18th-Early 19th Century Entertainment Along the Buckingham Road

Dr. Agnes E. Gish spent more than twenty years traveling the Old Buckingham Road seeking the original sites of the taverns and ordinaries that once dotted its roadside every four to twelve miles and studying the lives of those who dispensed hospitality-for-a-profit to its travelers. These public and private houses of entertainment are presented here in brief vignettes that contain both historical and genealogical information. The information has been gathered from public documents such as land patents, court order books, deeds, wills, personal property and land tax books, pension petitions, census enumerations, marriage bonds and minister’s returns, records of the Board of Public Works, and the Mutual Assurance Society’s fire insurance policies. The many newspaper notices of this period add a personal touch to the facts found in these public documents.