Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

Coffeehouse Locations and the Location of the Exchange:

Harold Meyers's article, "The Exchange," Colonial Williamsburg (Winter 1993-1994), pp. 30-31, implies that in the early 1980s the Foundation relocated the Exchange from the area east of the Capitol walls to the area just west of the Capitol without sufficient justification. I have recently reviewed all references to coffeehouses and to the Exchange and believe that the decision of the Foundation's major oversight committee [then called the Program Planning and Review Committee] was justified. See "The Merchant's Exchange Relocated," in the July 1983 issue of The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter and comments below.

In his 3 November 1765 letter to the Board of Trade, Lt. Gov. Francis Fauquier referred to "the Coffee house (where I occasionally sometimes go) which is situated in that part of the Town which is call'd the Exchange tho' an open Street, where all money business is transacted" [George Reese, ed., The Official Papers of Francis Fauquier: Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, 1758-1768 (Charlottesville, 1980), III, pp. 1291-1293]. Because evidence locating the Exchange is scanty and ambiguous, it is necessary to answer instead this question, "Where was the coffeehouse during the 1760s and 1770s?" None of the references indicate that there was ever more than one establishment by that name at any given time in early Williamsburg. References imply that the coffeehouse was located on the eastern side of Lot 58 during the 1760s and early 1770s. Neither Fauquier's letter nor any other source identifies the proprietor during the mid 1760s. By June 1767 Richard Charlton rented the coffeehouse and operated it as a tavern [Virginia Gazette (Purdie & Dixon) 25 June 1767, p. 3]. The location is clearly identified in Benjamin Bucktrout's 9 February 1769 advertisement offering to lease the brick house [known from other sources as the Palmer House] "opposite to the Coffee House and nigh the Capitol" [Ibid., p. 3]. Two years later an advertisement for the sale of the eastern portion of Lot 58 indicates that Christiana Campbell operated a tavern at the "COFFEE-HOUSE in the main Street, next the Capitol." That fall she moved to the tavern 'behind the Capitol, lately occupied by Mrs. Vobe." [Ibid., 16 May 1771, p. 3; 3 October 1771, p. 3].

From about 1772, but definitely by 1774, through 1777, the landmark known as the coffeehouse operated in the adjoining building on the west side of Lot 58. An unsigned notice about private lodgings for seven or eight gentlemen "at the Coffee-house, near the Capitol" could refer to either of the buildings on Lot 58 fronting on Duke of Gloucester Street [Ibid., 23 January 1772, p. 3]. In 1774 John Webb advertised for sale the building formerly occupied by John Burdett on the western side of Lot 58 as that "valuable and well situated Lot in Williamsburg where the Coffeehouse is now kept." Three years later Webb again advertised the property described as "at present the COFFEE HOUSE" [Ibid., 13 October 1774, p. 3, and 26 September 1777, p. 3]. Use of now and present in these notices implies a change in location.

References to coffeehouses appear intermittently during the years Williamsburg served as the colony's capital. William Byrd's diaries for 1709-1712 and 1740 mention visits to "the coffeehouse" but never name the proprietor or give the location. His comments and all later references to coffeehouses — except for Richard Charlton's Virginia Gazette (Purdie & Dixon) 25 June 1767, advertisement that notes "THE COFFEE-HOUSE IN THIS CITY BEING now opened by the subscriber as a Tavern" — indicate that the coffeehouse functioned as a tavern, offering customers places to gather and obtain food, drink, lodging, and care for their horses. This was certainly true for tenant Daniel Fisher, who operated the "English Coffee House" from October 1751 to February 1752 in the building where James Shields formerly kept a tavern [Virginia Gazette (Hunter), 3 October 1751, p. 3, and 20 February 1752, p. 4].

To date, no references have come to light that locate a coffeehouse on Lots 21 and 22 where Christiana Campbell's Tavern has been reconstructed even though several books, the house history for the tavern, several early research reports, and memos make that assumption. These secondary sources use circular reasoning to locate the Exchange east of the Capitol, placing the Exchange near the coffeehouse on Lots 21 and 22 because the coffeehouse was near the Exchange. I suspect that early researchers were influenced by the fact that an early nineteenth-century insurance plat shows that the tavern on Lots 21 and 22 had a large front porch. According to Fauquier's 1765 letter, the coffeehouse had a porch large enough to seat Fauquier, members of the Council, and others. Because the law directing the building of Williamsburg required that structures fronting the main street be set back six feet from the street, few buildings on Duke of Gloucester Street had sizeable front porches. Unless the area around the Dora Armistead House is excavated and foundations or postholes reveal the location of the porch, I can do little more than suggest that the coffeehouse may have had a long, shallow front porch or possibly a side porch overlooking the Capitol.

Uncertainty about the Location of Pattison's Tavern at the Sign of the Edinburgh Castle:

Even though tavernkeeper Thomas Pattison acquired the western part of Lot 58 sometime before the fall of 1742, it is unlikely that he and his wife ever lived or kept a tavern there [York County Deeds & Bonds, III, 168-169]. John Burdett was already a well-established tenant who apparently lived there with his family and operated a tavern at this location until his death in 1746. Early Colonial Williamsburg researchers, unaware that his widow Anne Coke Pattison took over the tavern that her husband had operated, assumed that the "old Sign with the Iron Work" in John Burdett's 1746 inventory was "The Sign of Edinburgh Castle with the Irons &c" listed in Thomas Pattison's 1742 inventory [YC Wills & Inventories, Book XIX, 177-179; Book XX, 46-49]. A more likely scenario is that Thomas Pattison, who was an established tavernkeeper before he bought the property occupied by John Burdett, lived and kept his tavern at another location on the York County side of Williamsburg. After John Burdett's death in 1746, Mrs. Pattison may have moved her tavern to the building formerly occupied by Burdett or she might have remained at the location where her husband had operated a tavern. What is known is that several months after her death in February 1755, Robert Lyon advertised in the Virginia Gazette: "I now keep Tavern at the Sign of the Edinburgh-Castle, near the Capitol" [Hunter, 1 August 1755, p. 3; Maryland Gazette, 20 March 1755]. No other reference to a tavern by this name appears in early Williamsburg records.

Judging by the number of selected items in their inventories, Thomas Pattison's tavern was considerably larger than Burdett's, about the same size as James Shields's, and smaller than Wetherburn's. Burdett had nine beds, Pattison and Shields each had fourteen, and Wetherburn had twenty. Burdett had twelve tables, Pattison and Shields each had sixteen, and Wetherburn had twelve. Burdett had 28 chairs plus 4 benches, 1 passage bench, and a cane couch; Pattison had 61 chairs, Shields had 60 chairs, and Wetherburn had 71 chairs. Because part of Wetherburn's inventory is mutilated, he probably had more furniture than is listed [YC[York County] Wills & Inventories, Book XIX, 177-179; Book XX, 46-49 and 198-200; Book XXI, 36-43].

One especially useful new/old source about the daily operations of a tavern in Williamsburg is the "Anne Coke Pattison Account Book [1743/4-1748/9]" that curator Betty Leviner discovered in April 1991 at the Virginia Historical Society [Foundation Library photocopy, PH 72].

A Summary of Known Eighteenth-Century Owners, Occupiers, and Building Uses for the Eastern and Western Portions of Lot 58:

Lot 58 East [Known as Walthoe's Storehouse (Site of Present Dora Armistead House)]

Note: After 1750, deeds call the building on this property a storehouse but newspaper advertisements indicate that during the 1760s and 1770s the building served as a coffeehouse, a tavern, a lodginghouse, and probably a dwelling.

Coffeehouse Site:

While reading the Philadelphia portion of Daniel Fisher's journal, this passage caught Kelly's attention:

... on August the 7th [1755] I received a most kind letter from Mr. Walthoe informing me that Mr. Mitchelson, the Person who rented his store was become a Bankrupt, and that as it was unlikely I should ever remain in quiet under Mr. Wetherburn [Fisher was renting Shields Tavern from Wetherburn], If I thought his House would be of service to me, I should have the preference to any Person whatever, and that I might rest assured of any other friendly aid in his Power... The uncertainty of my situation... brought me to a resolution of Seeing my Family and Mr. Walthoe at Williamsburg before I came to any Certain determination of a settlement... I fixed upon Sunday the 10th for setting out on my journey to Williamsburg. ["The Fisher History," in Louise Pecquet du Bellet, Some Prominent Virginia Families (Lynchburg: J. P. Bell, 1907), 11, 807-808]

Fisher's journal ends several days later, shortly after he passed through Bladensburg, Maryland. After he returned to Williamsburg, Fisher placed a notice in the 5 September 1755 issue of the Virginia Gazette stating that he had been robbed just after he left Bladensburg. Fisher continued to live in the Williamsburg area until about 1764 but whether he ever rented Walthoe's store is unknown.

"Mr. Mitchelson" was probably the Yorktown merchant John Mitchelson who was in partnership with Patrick Barklay in 1746. By 1750 John Mitchelson, presumably the same man, was a resident of Williamsburg. On 21 January 1750/1751 Mitchelson obtained an attachment against the estate of Robert Crichton, from whom Walthoe had purchased the storehouse 4 August 1750. On 5 September 1751 Mitchelson advertised for sale, presumably at a store in Williamsburg [possibly Walthoe's storehouse but the notice does not give a location], "Great Variety of Houshold Furniture, of the newest Fashions, London Make" - mahogany chests of drawers, dressing, card, and claw tables, chairs, bedsteads, tea boards, tea chests, a dumb waiter, gilt, carved, and plain sconce glasses, a chimney glass, a dressing glass, turkey carpets, a spinet, sundry pictures "done by good Hands," linens, iron, brass, and pewter wares [Virginia Gazette, 21 August 1746, 5 September 1751; York County Judgments and Orders, Book 1, pp. 363 and 412, Deed Book 5, pp. 388-392,].

During the early 1750s Mitchelson was frequently the defendant in debt suits. A suit recorded in February 1754 identifies him as then residing in Yorktown. In August 1755 Charles Stewart advertised for sale the grist mill and large house about a mile from Williamsburg "lately belonging" to John Mitchelson. By October 1755 John Mitchelson had conveyed the above described property and "sundry Houshold Furniture … at his Store in Williamsburg" in trust to John Mercer, George Riddel, Charles Stewart, and James Anderson [York County Judgments and Orders, Book 1, passim, and Book 2, p. 390 and passim; Virginia Gazette, 15 August and 10 October 1755].

These references suggest that John Mitchelson might well have rented Walthoe's storehouse and sold household furniture there between 1751 and 1755. He was clearly the renter by 1755. Many references point to his financial problems. Mitchelson probably moved out of the area shortly after going bankrupt since the last references to him in this area date from 1755.

Burdett's Ordinary:

Wainwright has found evidence in Anne Pattison's account book that shows an interruption in the operation of her business that begins about the time Burdett died. Account book entries for 1746 [pp. 84-113] begin 1 January 1745/46 and end 17 August 1746. Entries resume [p. 114] with the entry for 7 April 1747 and continue through 13 June 1749. The only entry in the account book between what appears to be the break in her business operations appears on page 1 and indicates that 6 November 1746 "was the first day that hir new shais ever was in use..." 3 The first paragraph of page 28 of my historical report raises the possibility that Anne Pattison moved her tavern business to the western portion of Lot 58 after Burdett died. The apparent break in business with no break in pagination of her account book could simply indicate that for some reason she ceased keeping records in that book and continued in another, now lost. But the correlation with the approximate time Burdett dies suggests that she stopped operating the tavern that first her husband and later she, after his death, ran in a rented building and moved her business to the tavern [Burdett's Ordinary] that her husband had bought sometime before October 1742.