Boykin's Tavern

The tavern was constructed around 1790.

Major Francis Boykin was an American Revolutionary War officer who served with General George Washington. He was a representative from Isle Of Wight County in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1787-1792 and a sheriff and justice of the peace. There is a fort named after him in the county located along the James River.

Boykin deeded land to the county to relocate the county seat from Smithfield in return for permission to build the new county buildings in this location.

The original tavern was a one-story building that was expanded by Boykin’s son Francis Marshall Boykin after his father’s death in 1804. He added two full stories and a gambrel roof. It’s believed that the portico was added at that time as well.

The tavern is a rare example of the type of hostelry that would customarily be found within courthouse complexes in the days when most traveling was done via horse and carriage.

Today, the tavern operates as the Isle Of Wight County’s Department of Economic Development and as a museum of local history.