THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, October 1, 1994              TAG: 9410010243
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B01  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Column 
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   63 lines

DINING EXPERIENCE MAKES A PRONOUNCED IMPRESSION ON PATRON WILLIAMSBURG, KNOWN FOR ITS RESTORED COLONIAL BUILDINGS, IS ALSO THE HOME OF CHOWNING'S TAVERN. FOR A DECADE OR SO, THE HISTORIC EATERY HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN A RESTORATION PROJECT OF A DIFFERENT KIND.

We were relaxing under the pleached grape arbor back of Chowning's Tavern in Williamsburg, admiring finches flitting about in the vines above us and a blue jay screaming imprecations when I learned we were in Chewning's, not Chowning's.

Our personable young waitress was saying that in olden days only drinks and Brunswick stew were served. ``And women,'' she said, ``were not allowed in Chewning's.''

``Ma'am,'' I said, ``I could have sworn we were in Chowning's.''

``Oh, yes,'' she said, ``you're in Chewning's.''

``Then where,'' I asked, aghast, fearing the old noggin had slipped a gear, ``is Chowning's?''

``Right here,'' she said. ``Chowning's IS Chewning's.''

I reeled. And said: ``I'm just relieved Abbott and Costello are not here today or we'd never get this sorted out.''

Next day a communique from the Restoration's research department helped.

Family tradition and some documentary evidence suggest that Chowning should be pronounced CHEW-ning, to rhyme with ``few.''

There is a reference to Josiah Chowning as ``Chewning'' in an account book of Williamsburg builder Humphrey Harwood.

The variants ``Chowning'' and ``Chewning'' appeared frequently in other Virginia counties.

A history of the Chowning/Chewning family states that its members today accept as a virtual certainty that the name was always pronounced CHEW-ning, and in most cases they have adopted that spelling.

``Others who retain the Chowning spelling nevertheless insist on the CHEW-ning pronunciation.''

Well I'll be dogged.

Nothing is stable anymore.

A Colonial Williamsburg official observed that the Chewning pronunciation has been in vogue a decade or so, but a great many people, including tourists, who believe what they read on the tavern sign, go right on saying CHOW-ning.

What shakes me is that a multitude has been saying CHOW-ning, including John D. Rockefeller Jr., who began in 1926 the restoration of the old Colonial capital, as have more than a couple of dozen Virginia governors and hundreds of members of the Virginia General Assembly and any number of our congressmen, including former U.S. Sen. Harry F. Byrd - whose ancestor, William Byrd II, lived in Williamsburg.

Quite probably Winston Churchill, when he visited Williamsburg in 1946, pronounced it Chowning, as did Queen Elizabeth II in 1957.

Respectful of the restoration of the language as well as the Colonial buildings, I would be compelled to say Chewning's, but, on the other hand, I would feel a mite disloyal to the thousands of Virginians who have gone along all those years saying Chowning's.

I guess I'll just stop at Pierce's Pitt Barbecue for a sandwich.

Yes, that's the way it's spelled, after Sir William Pitt, I expect. by CNB