VA-Q20 Stone Tavern and Central Hotel

Marker text: STONE TAVERN AND CENTRAL HOTEL

George Nicholas, Albemarle County's Virginia General Assembly delegate in 1783, built a stone house here in 1784. James Monroe occupied it 1789-1790, while improving the dwelling at his nearby farm, later the site of the University of Virginia. Here on 15 Dec. 1806, whilte the house was being operated as Stone Tavern, the return of Meriwether Lewis from his expedition to the Pacific with William Clark was celebrated with a dinner. Thomas Jefferson hosted a reception in the tavern (renamed the Central Hotel), on 12 Nov. 1824, for the Marquis de Lafayette. While serving as a hospital during the Civil War, the building burned with no fatalities in 1862.

Department of Historic Resources, 1999