As a "better do it while we're still young" married couple, my husband Chuck and I took a leap of faith in 1987 and purchased Birkett's Tavern in Hillsboro, Virginia. The original two-story structure of Flemish Bond brick (above, center) was built by John Hough in 1819 (real estate taxes went from nil to significant in 1819 - Va. State Archives). In 1824, John "Birkit," Sr. purchased the building, moved in with his family and opened a tailor shop (records - Loudoun County Courthouse). Sixteen years later - in April of 1840 - Birkett took the half day's wagon-ride to Leesburg and acquired a license to operate an ordinary or tavern "from his home."

It's been known as Birkett's Tavern ever since.

Birkett's Tavern stands in the middle of Hillsboro, it's current address: 36985 Charlestown Pike. Although typical of the Federal era, it was one of only two brick homes built in the village. Back then the tavern had at least three outbuildings: a long stone kitchen (indicated by an exposed stone wall inside the modern kitchen), a chinked-log smoke house (currently in use as a garden and tool shed), and one large outbuilding (likely a barn) whose only remains - a stone foundation - lie a few inches under the sod at the back of the one-third acre property.

Our first work was in the front "parlor." When we removed wallpaper, we found the ghost of a chair rail, markings from the original tavern bar, and evidence of the various layers of original milk paint in the room. A bright salmon was the choice of either John Hough or John Birkett, and we recreated the color as closely as possible. But we left an 8" square on the north wall unpainted, so future visitors can see the layers for themselves.

The brick section has three Rumford corner fireplaces - one in the front parlor, one in the dining room behind just beyond, and a third in a second floor guest room. The flues entertwine. Count Rumford designed these fireplaces to maximize heat efficiency. They are shallow and have a curved back wall that sends more of the rising heat out into the room.

Birkett's was well-situated as Taverns go: it was built at a crossroads. The main road to Purcellville began just west of the tavern (the present Rt. 690 - was built much later). The ca. 1900 frame section of the house appears to be set on an early 19th century stone foundation. Our theory is the stone was the foundation of a wide covered porch set along the west end of the tavern to face the Purcellville Road. Further evidence: two front doors in the front parlor. Besides the front door (with a transom window above that faces Charlestown Pike as seen above), there was a door to the outside on the west wall (also set with a transom window). Once the Victorian-era frame addition was put in, the west door became a shallow closet, and its transom window a display shelf.

Birkett's property used to encompass the area where the east neighbor's red barn stands. The tavern keeper owned other properties, as well (like the little stone house to its west - the oldest structure in Hillsboro), and his lands amounted to around 12 or 13 acres. A typical early 19^th century tavern required around 13 acres to support the business (farmland for planting and pens to store animals brought through town by drovers). This was in the days before the trains, and there was only one way to get an animal all the way to the markets of Alexandria: walk.

The house's original hand-carved mantels, built-in corner cupboards, 9 over 6 windows (nine panes over six panes), and large brass locks were all removed by the time of the 1930s-era Works Progress Administration Historical Homes study (the WPA reports can be found at Leesburg's Thomas Balch Library). The front parlor mantel was described as "a Federal-style medallion with crossed arrows and side pillars," but the mantel that stands there now is a very simple affair... unless it's Christmas time.

It must have made a fine looking tailor shop. We found evidence from the tailor shop era under the attic floorboards: they include scraps of fabric, a 19^th century woman's apron re-made from an old dress (likely Civil War-era), a front piece from a pair of ca. 1810-1830 breeches, various pockets, a portion of bonnet lace, and a flattened beaver skin top hat. At first we thought it was a rat skin, but then... few rats are oval. When pumped up with a wide rim of cardboard, lo' and behold, a very worn ca. 1830 beaver hat appeared. John Birkett's? Whoever the owner, he was right-handed: the brim is worn on the upper right edge.

The stone kitchen that once stood at the back of the house was about 25 feet wide and twelve feet deep and was set back from the house about twelve feet. The kitchen roof was slate shingles (fire proof), while the main house had wood shingles. It appears there was a Dog Trot, i.e. a passageway from house to kitchen that led from the dining room of the tavern (still a dining room). There is another door cut in this back wall which once led to an outside stairwell that went straight to the root cellar below the current dining room (this door is now set with removable shelves for an optional bookcase). While visitors can stand up in the basement rooms below the dining room and front parlor, the only current access to the root cellar is via a crawl space under the L-shaped back porch.

In the basement under the front parlor sits half of a ca.1850 wardrobe. A great place to tell ghost stories, as this hints at a dark tale. During the Civil War, wood became scarce and coffins were ever in short supply. Family wardrobes were often cut in half to use as replacements, so it's quite possible the other half of the wardrobe lies in one of Hillsboro's cemeteries. Another interesting item under the house - which can be seen and gotten to from the crawl space - is the lower half of the original kitchen's stone fireplace. The fireplace is five feet wide and four feet high, but, because the kitchen floor was raised three feet above the original dirt floor kitchen, the fireplace in not accessible. It rests behind the back wall of the large kitchen pantry, but the outside of the chimney stands in the north wall of the back workroom.

In the 1940s, the store was turned into three apartments, and in the 1970s Mr. and Mrs. Hoff purchased the property and turned it into a home. The Hoffs created the modern kitchen by raising the kitchen floor to the same level as the rest of the house. Although the kitchen has nine-foot tall ceilings, there is one low beam - the evidence remaining from a once a much higher ceiling beam for the dog trot. The stone kitchen foundation is easily mapped by visiting the crawl space underneath the existing kitchen. We renovated the kitchen again in 2000.