THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 15, 1994 TAG: 9412150421
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
It looks like nothing more than a dilapidated old house on the courthouse grounds. Maybe, with chained-up chimneys and steel rods through its sides, it could even be called an eyesore.
But in the eyes of historically minded beholders in Virginia, the beauty of Boykin's Tavern lies in its significance as one of a handful of places like it remaining in the state.
And now, residents of this rural county may have the chance to help save the house that once was the center of 18th-century life in Isle of Wight.
The County Board of Supervisors tonight will conduct a public hearing on the county's application for a $500,000 federal grant to save the tavern. The 10-room house qualifies because it stands alongside a major Virginia thoroughfare, U.S. 258, Economic Development Director Lynn Harris said.
And that's what the Federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act - ISTEA, as it is commonly called - is designed to do: Spruce up the highways of the United States.
``Boykin's Tavern meets all the standards for buildings either on interstate highways or major thoroughfares,'' Harris said. ``The grant is for historic preservation and rehabilitation. It's a federal grant designed to have all intermodal transportation routes looking good.''
Harris can't say how much ISTEA money will be available this year, but local historians hope there will be enough for the tavern.
The original, two-room house was built in 1698 by Thomas Joyner Sr.
``There just aren't that many 17th-century structures left,'' Harris said.
In 1780, it was bought by Francis Boykin, a Revolutionary War soldier who served under Patrick Henry and spent a winter at Valley Forge with George Washington.
Boykin was appointed county sheriff after the war. He bought the house, added eight rooms and used it as his residence and as an inn and tavern. It was a place where travelers stopped overnight on their way to Suffolk or North Carolina, where lawyers and judges stayed during court sessions.
Records indicate Boykin's Tavern was a social center for the county as late as 1866. One historic account tells about a jousting tournament and lavish party held there that year, just a few months after the end of the Civil War.
For years, the old tavern was used as a private residence. When the county bought it in 1974, few members of the Board of Supervisors then knew what a historical jewel they had acquired.
In February of that year, the board discussed razing it - until a letter was received from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources saying the destruction of Boykin's Tavern would be ``a loss not only to the historical legacy of Isle of Wight County but to the Commonwealth as a whole.''
State officials believe it may be one of fewer than 10 such structures remaining in Virginia today, although, in earlier times, a tavern like Boykin's stood on nearly every courthouse green. Boykin's Tavern is said to be one of the earliest and largest left.
The tavern has been a pet project of the Isle of Wight County Historical Society for years, President Dick Austin said. With what money was available, the group has done all it could to preserve the building, Austin said.
``I'm delighted if something is going to happen to it,'' he said Wednesday. ``It's unique, not so much as an isolated building but because of it being a part of the courthouse complex.''
Helen King, author of ``Historical Notes on Isle of Wight County,'' published in 1993, said she has dreamed for years about winning the state lottery and saving the tavern.
``I just hope they finally do something about it,'' she said. ``It would be so awful for us to lose it.''
The tavern also has been a pet project for Harris, who came to work for the county about four years ago and was appointed economic development director earlier this year.
``It's a very special place,'' she said. ``It disturbs me that it just sits there.''
Harris said the grant, which must be applied for by Jan. 31, would allow the tavern to be restored and moved about 30 feet forward, closer to route 258. The building would be used as an information and tourist center, perhaps as a museum.
But the grant application also calls for $20,000 in private donations. Harris said she hasn't gotten a commitment on that money yet, but she's hoping for local support once others know about the effort to save the tavern.
The grant application for Boykin's Tavern's restoration will be combined with two other applications, one to develop a bike path through the county and another to preserve Civil War trails at Fort Boykin and Historic St. Luke's Church.
The supervisors meet at 6 p.m. in the Board of Supervisors' meeting room at the Isle of Wight Courthouse. by CNB