Passage Room | East Bedchamber | Ballroom

During the economic boom of the 1790s, John Wise built the large, Federal-style City Tavern & Hotel, in 1792, next to his smaller ca. 1785 tavern. The most prominent tavern keeper to have operated the City Tavern & Hotel was John Gadsby. As proprietor of the hotel from 1796 to 1808, Gadsby made sure that the building was well-furnished, and he hosted the finest events in town, including dinners for Presidents Washington and Adams, and an inaugural dinner for President Jefferson. With a new lease agreement in 1802, Gadsby also took over the lease for the ca. 1785 tavern. At this time, he borrowed a sum of money using the furnishings of the City Tavern & Hotel as collateral. A room-by-room inventory of these furnishings survives and has served as the primary source for furnishing and interpreting the City Tavern & Hotel rooms. It also lists the eleven enslaved African Americans that Gadsby owned, including a man named Moses who was in charge of the wine cellar.

The City Tavern & Hotel, reputed as one of the finest accommodations in America, had a large taproom, two dining rooms, an elegant ballroom, and fourteen bedchambers, most equipped with fireplaces. As a patron to the City Tavern & Hotel, you may have seen the following rooms:

Passage Room

A passage through time?

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While Gadsby ran both the ca. 1785 tavern and the 1792 City Tavern & Hotel from 1802 to 1808, they were operated as separate businesses and were not connected internally. In 1976, a doorway was added to this second-floor City Tavern & Hotel bedchamber in order to allow Gadsby's Tavern Museum visitors to pass through the two buildings on tours.

During the time of Gadsby's management, Alexandria became part of the District of Columbia. Gadsby worked hard to attract political leaders and wealthy patrons to the tavern by providing elegant accommodations, serving fine foods and by hosting fashionable parties. He also created a stagecoach line between his establishment and a tavern in Baltimore and sold extra ice from the tavern's ice well to bring in extra revenue. As a result of his efforts, the tavern prospered and, even after his departure, the building was known as "Gadsby's Tavern." Today, his portrait, painted by his grandson, John Gadsby Chapman, hangs in the museum.

East Bedchamber

A place to lay your head?

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Because travel was made easier through the use of stagecoaches and tavern accommodations steadily improved, more people began to travel in the early 19th century, including women. The East Bedchamber is one of the finest rooms in the City Tavern & Hotel and would have been suitable for both male and female guests. While strangers of the same sex may have shared this room, it is unlikely that they would have shared the beds like in the ca. 1785 tavern. The private rooms on the second and third floors of the City Tavern & Hotel were spacious, well-furnished, and had fire places. The public rooms on the fourth floor were unheated and featured less-luxurious, dormitory-style sleeping arrangements in a similar fashion to the earlier tavern.

Ballroom

Shall we dance?

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Located on the second floor of the City Tavern & Hotel is the ballroom. Spacious and elegant with elaborate woodwork and a hanging musician's gallery, the ballroom was used for balls, performances, parties, and many community events. All five of the first American presidents spent time in this room at one time or another. In 1798 and 1799, around his birthday, George Washington danced here with his wife Martha during balls held in his honor.

When John Gadsby left Alexandria in 1808, the tavern buildings were passed along to many different managers and held many different names. During the late 19th century, the buildings were used for a variety of commercial uses. They soon fell into disrepair and were considered for demolition. In 1917, curators from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City purchased the woodwork in the ballroom, a mantel piece from the first floor, and the front door of the City Tavern & Hotel in order to preserve them as fine examples of early American architecture. This caught the attention of local patriotic groups and, in 1929, the American Legion Post 24 purchased the tavern buildings in order to restore them. With the help of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Colonial Dames, and the Garden Club of Alexandria, the buildings were restored to the late 18th-century and re-named Gadsby's Tavern. The woodwork in the ballroom was reproduced and the front door was returned. The American Legion gave the buildings to the City of Alexandria in 1972. After extensive research and renovation, Gadsby's Tavern Museum reopened as a City of Alexandria museum in 1976, in time for the bicentennial.