THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 21, 1994 TAG: 9412200125
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Boykin's Tavern, the large, old house on the courthouse green that has nearly crumbled into ruins, may soon experience a rebirth.
The Board of Supervisors last week agreed unanimously to apply for Federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act - ISTEA - grants to plan a bikeway through the county, preserve Civil War trails at Fort Boykin and Historic St. Luke's Church, and to restore Boykin's Tavern, an 18th century social center of the county.
``We've talked about this for some time now,'' Supervisor Henry Brady of the Rushmere District said about the tavern. ``It's time to do something.''
Citizens at the public hearing also supported the proposed restoration. County historian Helen King, speaking in behalf of the Isle of Wight Historical Society, pledged that group's financial support.
The county must raise 20 percent - or $100,000 - of the $500,000 cost of the restoration from private donations.
Lynn Harris, economic development director for the county, said that Boykin's Tavern meets all the criteria for an ISTEA grant. The funding for those federal grants is designed to spruce up the highways of America.
The 10-room house, which was a tavern and an inn from the late 1700s until the late 1800s, sits alongside U.S. Route 258, adjacent to the main courthouse complex.
Plans call for restoring the house and moving it 30 feet closer to the road. The building would be used as an information and tourist center, perhaps as a museum.
The original, two-room house was built in 1698 by Thomas Joyner Sr. 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.
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.''
Harris said the county must apply for the grants by Jan. 31. ILLUSTRATION: File photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Boykin's Tavern, adjacent to the Isle of Wight Courthouse, may soon
undergo restoration, if the county gets a federal grant.
by CNB