Chowning’s Tavern
- Accessible
- Family Friendly
Experience Local Flavors
Our menu features beloved local favorites, including hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, and salads, complemented by a selection of beer and soda. Additionally, we offer pasties—an English and colonial tradition of hand-held savory pies filled with beef or chicken. Perfect for enjoying on the go or savoring in the grapevine-shaded beer garden behind Chowning’s Tavern. For kids our Children’s Menu is sure to delight event the pickiest eater.
Chowning’s Garden Bar: Open for the Season.
Located behind Chowning’s Tavern, the Chowning’s Tavern Garden offers a relaxed, open-air dining experience for the entire family to enjoy. The bar overlooks the courthouse lawn, and during the warm summer months, a constant breeze keeps our guests cool and comfortable.
Chowning’s Cider Stand: Open for the Season
Come an enjoy some of your favorites: Cookies, Pasty, Cold Drinks, Ginger Cake, Coke Selections, Powerade, Apple Cider, Root Beer, Ginger Ale
JOSIAH CHOWNING
Little is known about Josiah Chowning. When the tavern was reconstructed, Colonial Williamsburg believed it was located on this site, but we now know that a store and dwelling were here and that the tavern was somewhere nearby. Chowning’s business lasted less than two years, but its twentieth-century counterpart has accommodated travelers and locals for over fifty years. Chairs, benches, and tables represent the sturdy furniture found in colonial taverns catering to the middling sort. Excavated fragments show that the blue and yellow peacock on the dinnerware was one of several colorful bird motifs used by early Williamsburg residents. Utilitarian stoneware tableware, plain tin sconces, and simply framed maps and prints accentuate the informality of Chowning’s Tavern.
*ADA Accessible wheelchair lift is available. Please check in at the front, and our host will escort guests to the lift at the rear of the building. Note this cannot be seen from the street. All profits from Chowning’s Tavern are used for the purposes of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, which operates the Historic Area and educational programs.
