Mrs. Jane Vobe�s advertisement in the February 6, 1772, issue of the Virginia Gazette alerted readers that she had relocated her business to a prime location near the Capitol Her tavern was reputed to be �where all the best people resorted.�
The King�s Arms was a common tavern name in England and the colonies. By the 1770s Parliament was out of favor with some colonists, but most Virginian�s remained loyal to the king. The tavern�s name shifted with the political climate. Known as �Mrs. Vobe�s� during the Revolution, it later became the Eagle Tavern.
The King�s Arms and other Williamsburg taverns served as local gathering places where customers met to discuss business, politics, news and gossip over drinks and meals. Taverns were in this respect unofficial public buildings. Before and during the Revolution, Williamsburg taverns, including the Raleigh and Wetherburn�s, provided rooms for the politicians who debated independence and later operated the provision-al government of Virginia. During this period Mrs. Vobe and other tavern keepers supplied food, drink and lodging to the American troops.
The change of government had little effect on tavern operations. Like its colonial predecessor, the state required tavern keepers to apply for annual licenses and set maximum prices for food, drink and lodging. The rates had to be posted in each tavern�s public room.
Artifacts found on the site and sketches of the tavern drawn on late 18th-century insurance policies assisted in the reconstruction of the tavern and adjoining Purdie House to the east, which contains some of the dining rooms.
Reproduction chairs, tables, and serving pieces represent a deliberate mix of furniture style popular with the Virginia gentry. The royal arms on the dinnerware were fashionable in the colonies before the Revolution. Other accessories � the pewter candlesticks with glasses, pewter sugar and salt dishes, brass sconces, maps and framed prints � correspond to items listed in inventories of taverns patronized by affluent customers. |
