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DeJarnette's Tavern SOLD
Halifax County, Virginia
ca. 1780s
DeJarnette's Tavern, built in the 1780s, in Halifax County is a rare, surviving example of vernacular tavern architecture.The building has had a long and storied past, serving as a farm house, stage coach inn, tavern, and mustering place for Civil War soldiers. Legend has it that Daniel DeJarnette (1768-1831) won the tavern in a wrestling match. Other folk tales abound, including that DeJarnette was over 7 feet tall and was buried in the family plot in a piano case. All stories aside, the DeJarnette family legacy begins in Virginia with the arrival of Jean DeJarnette (1680-1765), a Huguenot who fled France to escape the turmoil created by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Arriving in America around 1699, DeJarnette first settled in Manakin Town, an area assigned to Huguenot immigrants located south of the James River near Richmond. In 1767, property under the name James Pemberton DeJarnette, son of Jean DeJarnette, was first recorded in Halifax County. James DeJarnette had ten children; one of whom was Daniel DeJarnette. The tavern remained in the DeJarnette family for six generations before it was purchased by the APVA Preservation Virginia Historic Properties Revolving Fund in 2001. Mr. Edward Chappell, head of architectural research at Colonial Williamsburg, describes DeJarnette's Tavern in his April 23rd, 2001 field-notes as: ". . .among the most distinctive taverns in Virginia, both in form and finish." "The essential points are that the form is wonderfully distinctive and resolved. Its position on Route 40 makes it a remarkably strong landmark." The building has a stone foundation with frame construction, wide unpainted weatherboard siding and a very steep gable roof. The first floor features tavern rooms described as "the most memorable in Virginia." The large front tavern room has 10" to 13" wide, hand-planed horizontal wall sheathing that has never been painted. The original enclosed stairway is intact and leads to a large, open (unheated) upstairs room. The supra-attic, also unheated, provided extra sleeping space. Only one large rock chimney survives on right side of the house. The left chimney was removed in the late 1940s. The rear addition which houses the dining room and kitchen was added in the early 20th century which enabled the tavern to function more as a farmhouse. Despite the addition of the ell, the building has changed very little since it construction. The house is listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. Protected by easements written, held and monitored by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. The Revolving Fund Program purchased the Tavern to save it from severe neglect in 2001 and sold it in 2007. It is currently under restoration.
Contact:
Sarah Cooleen Revolving Fund Program Manager
scooleen@preservationvirginia.org
804-648-1889 ext. 320
Fax: 804-775-0802
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