Agnes Evans Gish

Virginia Taverns, Ordinaries and Coffee Houses: 18th - Early 19th Century Entertainment Along the Buckingham Road Agnes Evans Gish

Dr. Agnes E. Gish spent more than twenty years traveling the Old Buckingham Road seeking the original sites of the taverns and ordinaries that once dotted its roadside every four to twelve miles and studying the lives of those who dispensed hospitality-for-a-profit to its travelers. These public and private houses of entertainment are presented here in brief vignettes that contain both historical and genealogical information. The information has been gathered from public documents such as land patents, court order books, deeds, wills, personal property and land tax books, pension petitions, census enumerations, marriage bonds and minister's returns, records of the Board of Public Works, and the Mutual Assurance Society's fire insurance policies. The many newspaper notices of this period add a personal touch to the facts found in these public documents. Dr. Gish holds degrees from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the University of Northern Colorado. In addition to many newspaper and magazine articles, she has written Hobson's Chapel: 18th - early 19th Century Settlement Along Branches of Deep Creek, Cumberland-Powhatan Counties, Virginia (1997) and "A Place of Considerable Trade For Its Size, Jefferson: A James River Canal Town," Virginia Cavalcade (Spring 2001).