Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF EXISTING BOURBON HOUSE AND OUTBUILDINGS

Submitted herewith is a drawing showing all foundations found on the "Bourbon" lot. The present Bourbon House is situated on the North side of Francis Street at the corner of Blair Street. Some of it, including the foundations is very old.

There is a building shown on the Frenchman's Map which at a glance seems to be plotted on the site of the Bourbon House, but when its relation to the Capitol as shown on the Map is checked on the ground, its site is found to be from 10 to 60 feet West of the Bourbon House, in what is now Blair Street. Grading and the laying of the concrete road have probably destroyed any foundations there. However, there may be an error in the Frenchman's Map in plotting the building on Francis Street in their proper relation to the Capitol. By scale, the distance between the building shown on the corner on the map and the next one East of it is 110 feet. Approximately the same distance was measured on the ground between the Bourbon House foundations and the foundations of an old house recently uncovered by excavation on the Mayo Lot, which indicates that those foundations and the Bourbon House foundations are the remains of the buildings the Frenchman plotted on his map, although the Bourbon foundations cover a considerably smaller 2 area than the Frenchman's building, which by scale is over 40 feet long. In accordance with that deduction the original house on the Bourbon foundations was standing in 1786, the date of the Frenchman's Map, perhaps earlier.

From data in the Research Department, Ayscough's Tavern of Colonial days and the Revolution stood south of the Capitol off the Main Street. It might have been the building originally erected on the Bourbon House foundations, although, it would have been a very small tavern. On the other hand, the old records that refer to it, suggest a popular and therefore a larger building, so, after all, the Frenchman's Map may be correct, (it has been found so in most instances), and Ayscough's Tavern was the building (over 40 feet long) shown West of the present Bourbon House site, in what is now Blair Street.

From a study of the Bourbon foundations I have deduced the following:

Walls 1, 2, 3, and 4 are original foundation and basement walls. Closures on both sides of window openings A, B, & F indicate that they are original. However, the present frames do not appear to be original and the depth of the openings may have been slightly changed since the original house was built. Window opening B may be original, but if so, it has been enlarged. No closures were found in the brickwork there. Remains of brick steps and cheek walls bonded with the original walls of the basement show that the original basement entrance was at E, where patch in wall 2 closed the opening.

Old framing exposed by removing plaster and laths indicate 3 that there was a door at D. Also, the outside wall 2 was not whitewashed below it for a space 4'-10½" wide, which suggests that an entrance was there, for stone steps found at present front entrance are 4' 9" long, and therefore approximately fit that space. Chimney at H appears to be original. Brickwork shown at M is a part of chimney H which supported the hearth. At G wall 4 has been patched and at J there are fragments of walls that suggest an entrance may have been there at one time, although it is doubtful for a part of the original wall (4) remains on the inside that would have interfered with it, and from the brickwork on the outside that suggests a step to the bottom of the first floor sill, there is hardly enough head room. Wall 3 is very irregular on the North side. It looks as if the excavation for the original foundation was too small at the bottom and the wall was built tight against the bank of earth, and the full width of the wall was not constructed until about 3 feet of it had been built for there is a decided offset in the wall at about that height. The panel in wall 3 is original, also walls 5, 6, and 7 apparently are the foundations of an addition to the original building -- a lean to or shed room addition, which was probably built soon after the original building. Chimney 8 apparently belongs only to the present modern house. Chimney 9 and front entrance K were built at the time the present house was constructed.

Brick pillars "L" supported the last porch of the present house.

The outbuilding has two rooms on the first floor and two on the second, the partition between them being on the center line of 4 the chimney. The eastern part of the building appears to be the oldest for the partition just mentioned is weatherboarded on the West side. The western part however is also very old. The two first floor fireplaces are bonded together and the chimney therefore was built in one operation. Perhaps, the original (eastern) part of the building had no chimney, and it (the chimney) was built at the time the western addition was added. The chimney appears to have been rebuilt from the second floor through the roof.

The well was found by excavating filled ground. Practically no brick work remains in it.

The whole of the Bourbon lot was explored by excavation, but no other foundations were found.

Wall Y is in the Street and was evidently built as a retaining wall when street was graded. Mrs. Peebles is quoted as having said it was built during her father's lifetime. It has every appearance of being modern -- modern bricks and mortar.