Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

"THE BLUE BELL" ^{1st copy}
Block 8, Colonial Lot #62 [?]
August 15, 1942

Lots #61 and #62 were granted by the city trustees to John Redwood who as early as 1703 was appointed gaoler, and caretaker, as well of the Capitol and its furniture. Thirty pounds per annum was to be his salary. Redwood was keeper of the gaol until his resignation at some time before February 10, 1709 (See Public Gaol index under Redwood). In addition to this service, Redwood's business was that of tavern keeper.

On April 28, 1707, Redwood obtained leases from the city trustees to four lots - Nos. 61, 62, 272 and 273. [York County Records, Vol. III, Deeds, Bonds, p. 286]. Redwood's ordinary license dated December 15, 1707 indicates two facts: that he had obtained an ordinary license earlier, and secondly, that he already had a dwelling house in Williamsburg. The license, in part, reads:

The condition of the above obligation is such that whereas the above bounded John Redwood hath renewed his license to keep an ordinary at his dwelling house in Williamsburg ... [Ibid, Book 13, Deeds, Orders, Wills, p. 110]

Redwood sold both of his lots east of the Capitol to Philip Ludwell of Green Springs on May 4, 1708. From this deed it is clear that Redwood kept his ordinary, at least after the date of the above quoted license, at his dwelling east of the Capitol. The deed reads as follows:

May 4, 1708.

Redwood, John
Elisabeth, his wife
to
Ludwell, Phillip of Green Springs
Consideration: 150 Pounds.

All that two lots or half acres of ground lying and being in the City of Williamsburg on the Northeast side of the Capitol Square, designed in the plot of the said city by the figures 61 and 62, being the lots whereon the dwelling house and outhouses of the said John Redwood do stand.

Also two other lots or half acres of ground lying in the said city and designed in the plot of the said city by the figures 272, 273, together with all houses.

[Ibid, Vol. II, Deeds, Bonds, p. 305]

Problems arising about Redwood's title to the lots and his right to transfer them were solved by an agreement between the city trustees and Philip Ludwell. In this agreement, Ludwell, for a sum, retained lots #61 and #62, and gave up his claim to lots #272 and #273. This information is found in a deed of 1719:

June 12, 1719.

Trustees City of Williamsburg
to
Ludwell, Philip

Chuckley Corbin Thacker and Mongo Ingles, Gent. two of the Trustees for the city of Williamsburg by their deeds of lease and release bearing date the 28th April, 1707, for the consideration of 3 pounds, confirmed unto John Redwood of the county of York and his heirs forever, four certain lots or half acres of ground lying and being in the plan of the said city by the figures 61, 62, 272, and 273 ... which said four lots or half acres were afterwards conveyed by the said Redwood to Philip Ludwell, but it doth not appear that the lease and release granted to Redwood had been acknowledged and recorded, nor can now be by reason of the death of Mongo Ingles, one of the trustees, by means whereof some doubt and law suits may arise: And whereas the said Philip Ludwell is willing to quit his claim to two of the said four lots, viz: those denoted by the figures 272, 273, and to accept of a release and confirmation of the remaining two lots mentioned in the deed of lease and release granted to the aforesaid Redwood.

Now this indenture witnesseth that the trustees for the consideration above mentioned, also 30 shillings, quit claim to the said Philip Ludwell forever, to those two lots or half acres of land lying and being in the city of Williamsburg and now actually in the possession of the said Philip Ludwell and his under tenants, and denoted in the plan of the said city by the figures 61 and 62.

[York County Records, Vol. III, Deeds and Bonds, p. 286]

It will be noted in this document that the Redwood dwelling was in the possession of Philip Ludwell [II] "and his under-tenants." It is possible that this phraseology, unusual in deeds, may imply that Ludwell was the owner, but tenants were the occupiers. Ludwell owned other lots including the one on which the present "Ludwell-Paradise" house stands. (See Ludwell-Paradise house report).

Philip Ludwell II died, according to a secondary source on 3 January 11, 1726-7. [Virginia Magazine, Vol. 7, p. 356] His real estate¹ including his houses and lots in Williamsburg were in the possession of his son of the same name at the time of the latter's death in 1767.

Little is known about the use made of lots #61 and #62 from 1719 to 1768. The Wm. Waller plat of 1749 is the earliest evidence of Ludwell's location with reference to the Capitol, John Coke's lots and the adjoining streets. Both the Waller plat and the Bucktrout map of 1803 are illustrated, in part, below:

Philip Ludwell III had no living son to inherit his large estate, but left a will providing for his real and personal estate to be held in trust by four attorneys-at-law in Virginia for his daughters, Hannah, Frances and Lucy

to be divided as follows, the Green Spring part whereby I mean that part of my land that lies in James City County on the Western side of Powhatan Swamp (with slaves, stocks, etc.) including Powhatan Mill & the Miller; the Rich Neck part whereby I mean all on Eastern side of the Powhatan Swamp & at Archers Hope & in Williamsburg; the Chipokes part whereby I mean all lands in the county of Surry; these to be made as equal as possible by adding part of one division to another and then Green Spring part to be conveyed to H.P. [Hannah Philippa] my Rich Neck part (with Rich Neck Plantation therein) to F.[rances] at 21 or marr'd and the third part including Chipokes & my Surry lands to L.[ucy] at 21 or marr'd ... Cod[icil] dat. 2 Mar. 1767. Estate up to time of division to be carried on as if I were alive ... (Will proved May 6, 1767.) (Virginia Magazine, Vol. 32, pp. 288-89)

The property east of the Capitol was rented out. The name of one renter, Thomas Brammer, is of undoubted authenticity. It is also evident in the letters and advertisements of the 70's that the house under discussion was called "the Blue Bell". Announcements locating other businesses or trades in vague phrases in the same locality are included here since it is impossible to prove that "fronting the playhouse"¹, "near the playhouse", "opposite the playhouse", "below the Capitol" did not refer to "the Blue Bell". The fact that Thomas Brammer advertised William Willis' guns and gunlocks after the latter had left Williamsburg seems to imply that the gunsmith might have had one room of the Blue Bell for his shop, or might have been located on Brammer's premises.² One fact is certain: Brammer lived and carried on his mercantile business on one of the Ludwell lots (apparently lot #62, to judge by the numbering of lots on the Unknown Draftsman's map).

Unknown Draftsman's Map
(Part of the map which shows the Paradise-Lee lots)

The first of these announcements reveals no connection with the Blue Bell other than identical phrases describing their respective locations:

March 17, 1768

The subscriber hereby informs his friends and the public, that Gentlemen may be provided with good lodgings for themselves, and good stables for their horses, at his house, fronting the play house.
WILLIAM PAGE [Virginia Gazette, William Rind, ed.]

The next announcement in point of time was that of Thomas Brammer. In an advertisement of the Blue Bell in 1773 quoted later, Brammer was named as the former occupant of the place. Brammer's announcement is as follows:

WILLIAMSBURG, July 28, 1768.

The subscriber having removed from the market square, to a house opposite the playhouse, has upon hand the following articles, to sell at a low advance, for corn, or ready money only, a large quantity of Irish linens, woollens, cottons, oznabrigs, calimanco shoes, silk hats and bonnets, ribbands, silk handkerchiefs, calicoes, thread and worsted stockings, men's hats, striped silk damasous, cotton and wool cards, breeches patterns, ivory and horn combs, cutlery of all sorts, pins, needles, and a large assortment of delf and stone ware, rum, loaf sugar, brown do. molasses, good bohea tea, at 6 s. per pound; coffee, powder and shot, chocolate, indigo, butter, pepper, and many other articles too tedious to mention.
THOMAS BRAMMER. [Virginia Gazette, William Rind, Ed.]

In September of that year William Willis, gunsmith, began to insert announcements in the Virginia Gazette, of his craft carried on in the vicinity of the Capitol. These announcements, in chronological order are:

[September 22, 1768]

WILLIAM WILLIS,
Gunsmith from Birmingham,
Informs the publick that he has lately opened shop near the playhouse, where he intends to carry on his business in all its branches ... [Virginia Gazette, Purdie & Dixon, Eds.]

[January 12, 1769]

WILLIAM WILLIS
Gunsmith from Birmingham,
Informs the publick that he has opened shop opposite the playhouse, Williamsburg, where he carries on his business in all its branches
... [Ibid]

May 25, 1769

WILLIAM WILLESS,
Gunsmith from Birmingham,
Hereby informs the publick that he carries on his business, and does all the nice articles in the blacksmith trade, at his shop below the Capitol ... [Ibid]

WILLIAMSBURG, August 10, 1769

[Michael Walker, groom and farrier] may be heard of at Mr. Willess's, Gunsmith, below the Capitol. [Ibid, William Rind]

WILLIAMSBURG, August 29^th, 1770

As William Willis, gunsmith, is gone from this city, and has left some GUNS and GUN LOCKS with me, the owners may have them on paying for the repairs, and if not very soon taken away, I shall put them up at vendue.
THOMAS BRAMMER [Ibid, Purdie & Dixon, Aug. 30]

The division of the Ludwell property for which Philip Ludwell III had provided took place in 1770. Both Hannah Ludwell (Mrs. William Lee) and Lucy Ludwell (Mrs. John Paradise) were living in England at the time, and Frances had died. Of the terms of the division, William Lee, also in England, was notified by his brother, Richard Henry Lee that "... The houses in Williamsburg were divided by lot (having been first all valued by an experienced workman) ... the Blue Bell, a large house just behind the Capitol, fell to your share." This property rented for £20 yearly. [July 7, 1770, Lee Mss. Papers, IV, pp. 149-57] William Lee valued the Blue Bell and lot at £250. This was one third the value he placed upon the brick house and lot. [Ibid, V, pp. 360-61]

As an absentee landlord, Lee received such bad reports of the state of his property in Williamsburg, "in bad repair always rented to bad tenants always nasty & few rents paid." [Philip Lightfoot Lee to William Lee, Jan. 21, 1771, Lee Papers, Vol. V, p. 200] , that he resolved to sell if he could dispose of all of his houses and lots. [William Lee to R. C. Nicholas, April 23, 1772, Ibid, p. 85] Accordingly, an advertisement appeared in the local gazette: 7

FOR SALE,
The Three following TENEMENTS in the City of Williamsburg, which formerly belonged to the Honourable Philip Ludwell, and are now held by William Lee, Esquire, of the City of London, in Right of his Lady; ... the House called the Blue Bell, below the Capitol, opposite to the Playhouse and in which Mr. Brammer formerly lived, together with all the Lots and their Appurtenances. The Terms may be known of the Subscribers. If the Tenements should not, in the mean time, be disposed of, they will be offered at publick Sale, before Mr. Southall's Door, on Friday the 29th of October, at four o'clock in the Afternoon.
RICHARD HENRY LEE
FRANCIS L. LEE
RO: C. NICHOLAS Virginia Gazette, Purdie & Dixon, Eds. Sept. 23, 1773]

All the evidence points to failure on the part of the agents to effect a sale. Lee's houses in Williamsburg were taken over by soldiers during the American Revolution. For the damage done to the premises, Lee's agent asked from the Virginia legislative body the sum of £500:

A petition of John Ellis, agent for William Lee, Esq. of London, was presented to the House, and read; setting forth, that several valuable buildings and improvements belonging to the said Lee in the city of Williamsburg have been occupied by the soldiers as barracks and hospitals, by which they have been damaged to the amount of more than 500 l. as will appear by an estimate made by several honest workmen, and praying such relief as shall be thought just and reasonable. [Journal of the House of Delegates, 1777-1780, p. 29]

When the Paradise part of the Ludwell property escheated to the Commonwealth in 1779, one piece of Paradise's property was described as "being the houses and lots which Peter Many has now in possession, being situate on the Northeast corner of the Capitol Square, being the corner lot on the street leading to the Capitol Landing¹ and adjoining the lot of William Lee, Esq." [York County Records, Book VI, Deeds, p. 68] Peter Many 8 was the jailor [Virginia Gazette, Aug. 14, 1779]

When William Lee thought of returning to Virginia in 1782, he wondered if "any of the houses in Williamsburg are fit to inhabit. If repairs of consequence are necessary what may be the expense of them, and what materials will be wanted [for them or for the mansion house at Green Spring] from Europe." [Letter to R. H. Lee, October 11, 1782, Lee Letters, Book IV, p. 93, quoted in Virginia Magazine, Vol. 38, p. 38 ]

The Frenchman's map of 1782 [?] shows a fairly long, narrow building apparently fronting the extension of the Duke of Gloucester Street beyond the Capitol. This house A probably would come within the limits of the Lee lot as shown on the Bucktrout map. A small house B apparently facing the extension of Nicholson Street beyond the jail would probably come within the limits of the Paradise lot as shown on that map.¹ (The letter "A" and "B" are not on the Frenchman's Map.)

William Lee died at Green Spring in 1795. In his will, he left his estate real, personal and mixed, lying, being and situate in James City county, James Town, and the City of Williamsburg ... to his son, William Ludwell Lee. [Lee Letters, Book III, p. 949-50] The son, William Ludwell Lee died January 24, 1803. It appears that the "Lee" lots in Williamsburg were divided between his sisters, Cornelia (Mrs. John Hopkins) and Portia (Mrs. William Hodgson).

It is impossible from the records on hand to trace the history of the Blue Bell or the lot on which it stood. William Lee, later William Lee's estate continued to be taxed for three lots from 1785 through 1810. In 1812, William Lee's sons-in-law, John Hopkins and William Hodgson, each was taxed for "1 via Lee in 1812." As William Hodgson's lot was the "Ludwell-Paradise" lot (see Ludwell-Paradise report, pp. 9 and 10) the ownership of the Blue Bell lot apparently narrows down to John Hopkins of Alexandria and an unknown owner. The value of the house on Hopkins' lot was $150, the annual rent, $45. The Williamsburg land transfers show that William Tazewell had gotten one lot from Lee in 1803, and that in 1832, Robert McCandlish was taxed for one lot which he had acquired "via W^m. McCandlish marshall heretofore charged to John Hopkins." The value of McCandlish's lot was $150.

Dr. John C. Mercer, who according to Mr. Charles, Mrs. Victoria Lee and Mrs. Vandergrift, lived in a house on one or both of lots #61 and 62 at the time of the Civil War, is shown in the Williamsburg tax records as the owner of one lot in 1854. His property for the years 1854-61 varied as follows: 10

There is no reference in the tax records or the land transfers to clear up the question of the former owners of Mercer's two lots. He married Mary, daughter of Robert P. Waller. It is quite probable that Mercer acquired this property through his marriage into the Waller family. [Conversation with Mrs. Stubbs, great granddaughter of Robert P. Waller. She had always heard that Mercer got the property in that way]

C. 1861, the only building of any importance standing on the lot or lots bounded by Nicholson and Waller Streets was the Mercer house. Of this house, Mr. Charles writes:

The house opposite to Dr. Waller's (Robert P. Waller] was for many years before the War, and for several years after the War, the home of Dr. John C. Mercer. This house has been altered some, but looks much as it did in 1861 - with the exception that in the southeast corner of the then front, there was the doctor's office; a one story frame building, which was removed by the Federal soldiers during the fratricidal strife. [p. 59]

In summary: The historical facts that throw light on the architecture of the dwelling and outhouses on lots #61 and #62 are very scanty. It is known that a dwelling which could be used as a tavern was built before December, 1707. In 1768 a merchant lived and advertised his goods for sale in a house there. This house, called "the Blue Bell", was described in 1770 as "a large house just behind the Capitol." The description of the present Ludwell-Paradise house as a brick house by William Lee who owned both houses possibly implies that the Blue Bell was wooden. The Blue Bell 11 lot and house were considered by Lee one-third as valuable as his brick house and lot. Archaeological findings show that the foundations of a house in this area conform to the proportions of a house shown directly east of the Capitol on the Frenchman's map of c. 1782. It is not yet known when that house was destroyed, or demolished or moved.