Photos courtesy of Jen Shelor.
A real gem” is a comment made by many visitors since the King and Queen Courthouse Green Historic District and the Courthouse Tavern Museum opened in 2000. Visitors are surprised to find a professional museum supported by enthusiastic, knowledgeable, gracious and talented volunteers hidden deep in a rural setting.
In the late 1990s when a new county administration complex was built, the King and Queen County Historical Society seized the opportunity to formally have the old courthouse complex recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia as an historic district and, with the cooperation of the county, to use the vacated 1802 Fary Tavern as the Courthouse Tavern Museum. It was the only building to survive the Union forces 1864 burning of the area in retaliation for the killing of Col. Ulric Dahlgren by Confederate troops and the Home Guard, surviving because someone inside was ill with smallpox. Matching grants were obtained from the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Jessie Ball DuPont Fund for renovation of the tavern building which had also been a hotel, a private home and county offices. A local newspaper, described the process as “a perfect example of how public-private partnerships are supposed to work.”
Members of the King and Queen Historical Society formed a council led by Jack Spain to oversee the renovation and to make decisions regarding how the museum would tell the county’s story. The council, guided by professionals, began to envision the best manner in which to relate the history of the settlement and development of King and Queen County. One of the first actions of the council was a countywide search for artifacts that the citizens of King and Queen felt were vital to the county’s story. The King and Queen County’s version of “Antiques Roadshow” was held, and residents invited to bring their possessions of interest. And bring them they did! Treasures included a spyglass that had been used by generations of the Gwathmey family in the American Revolution and the Civil War, ribbons won at the 1946 County Fair, ration stamps and medals from World War II, a steamboat horn, oysterman’s gloves used in the York River, milk bottles from Salem Dairy, flyers for timber sales, vintage clothing, and hundreds of pictures from daguerreotypes to school pictures from the 1890s to events like the 1941 celebration of the 250th anniversary of the county’s founding.
As the council sorted through the artifacts and pictures, three themes arose: Life: Making a Living; Liberty: Winning and Gaining Freedom; and Pursuit of Happiness: Building Community/Making a Home. Within the 4’ by 5’ panels, the themes were divided by centuries, 1600s-1700s, 1800s, and 1900s. The next step was to furnish the museum with period- appropriate pieces. For example, the lower floor would be furnished as a mid-nineteenth century tavern, and tables and chairs taken from the jury room of the Circuit Court during its renovation would be used. Of the two original fireplaces, one would include racks and cooking pots that were in use at the time. Between the two fireplaces, a chimney cupboard, a gift from the Hutchinson family, would hold dishes and tableware that were appropriate to the era. On the second floor, a ladies’ parlor was furnished, and the other rooms on that floor were designated as exhibit space, a library, and storage. The two rooms on the third floor were furnished as bedrooms, one as a nineteenth-century room used by visitors on “court days”, and the other as an early twentieth-century room.
A restored Franklin buggy used for 100 years within King and Queen County.
With the assistance of county residents, the council, aided by Cinebar Productions, filmed a series of videos portraying early twentieth-century life in the county. On filming days, citizens, young and old donned period costumes found in attics and closets, and for a day or an hour, worked and played like it was 1920. The videos are available for visitors to view using touch-screens.
The museum, staffed entirely by volunteers, has increased opportunities to offer school tours consistent with the Standards of Learning. For example, the first-grade tour helps students differentiate between “Then and Now,” one of that grade’s objectives. From churning butter to washing clothes on a washboard to lessons in the log schoolhouse, these hands-on experiences will be remembered. Instructional materials given to the teachers provide follow-up activities to reinforce the lessons learned at the museum.
The museum campus includes the Old Clerk’s Office, the original home of the King and Queen Historical Society, which houses the climate-controlled archives vault. Recently restored, the building is now also being used to display exhibits.
Since the museum opened, additional exhibits have been incorporated, such as the 1715 sundial from Apple Tree Church. Through the years “visiting” collections have also been displayed: antique tools; quilts from several eras; nineteenth-century ladies’ dresses; photographs of steamboats and ships on the York and Mattaponi rivers, and, currently, the renowned Ivor Noël Hume Bottle Collection and artifacts from an archaeological dig at historic Newington Plantation.
When the museum begins operations for 2018 in April, three new exhibits will open to the public with an overall theme of “History Beneath Our Feet”. The largest displays marine fossils from tiny shark teeth to a whale’s rib and are part of an extensive collection that Newell Randall has gathered from stream beds in King and Queen County. The exhibit will answer the question, “Why were sharks and whales in King and Queen?” The second portrays the story of the archaeological investigation of early eighteenth century vessels that were discovered sunken in the Mattaponi River beach at Newington Plantation. They are the oldest vessel remains investigated to date in Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hurst provided the exhibit with artifacts loaned by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. The third displays prehistoric tools and weapons, including projectile points, spears, cutting instruments, and personal tools, that were found in the Middle Peninsula and Tidewater areas by three generations of the Shelor family.
The museum has become a destination for researchers from all over the country: those searching for historical information and those looking for their roots. The 4000-plus archives either on display or in the vault, the 350-plus books and periodicals focusing on the county, and the 60-plus video histories of residents provide a comprehensive view of the history of King and Queen County.
A late nineteenth-century view inside the schoolhouse, including the restored original schoolmaster's desk.
After eighteen years, the museum’s goal of preserving county history remains unchanged. It also continues to offer educational programs to enhance the understanding of rural Virginia life in previous centuries and continues to explore the possibilities for new exhibits that celebrate the land and people that are King and Queen County.
Visitors are always welcome to discover the “real gem” during operating hours or by appointment. The Courthouse Tavern Museum operates from April to December on Friday and Saturday, 12:30-4:30, and Sunday, 1-5, except on Easter, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Contact the Museum by phone at 804-785-9558, via the web at www.kingandqueenmuseum.org, or by mail, Courthouse Tavern Museum, P.O. Box 129, King and Queen Court House, VA 23085. Admission is free. Donations are accepted.
The Courthouse Tavern Museum and Courthouse Green Historic District are located at 146 Court House Landing Road, King and Queen Courthouse, a pleasant ride from Richmond, Williamsburg, and Fredericksburg along Route 14, a designated Virginia Byway.