At a time when the new nation was expanding to the west and northwest, the crossroads community of Newgate was bustling with several taverns that served travelers along the old Mountain Road (now Braddock Rd). Among the taverns were the Newgate Tavern, Sign of the Black Horse (also known as Mount Gilead), Centreville Hotel, and Wapping.

Wapping was known as a House of Entertainment, a popular term at that time for a tavern. In 1783, when William Wright owned the three-acre parcel, Gawin Adams applied to the Loudoun County Court for a license to keep an ordinary (another name for a tavern) at Wapping near Newgate.[1] At this time, the area where Wapping was located was in Loudoun County. Boundary changes resulted in the area becoming part of Fairfax County again in 1798. It is supposed that Adams was renting from Wright. Unfortunately, Adams’s application was rejected after being objected to by Col. Eskridge who operated the nearby Newgate tavern. Eskridge, it is supposed, was protecting his interests.

Wapping was likely named after a London, England neighborhood located near Newgate. In addition to the Newgate Tavern, possibly named after London’s Newgate Prison, a small stream that separated Newgate Tavern from Wapping is called the River Thames (after the London river of the same name.)

In 1784, Bates Dorsey purchased a little over two acres known by the Name of Wapping from William Wright.[2] During Dorsey’s ownership, the location of the House of Entertainment was pinpointed in the metes and bounds of an adjoining parcel. When Joel Beach sold his House at the Sign of the Black Horse to Francis Adams the deed included the following:

… Beginning about three poles North of the House Called Wapping & in the Line of the Land belonging to Bates Dorsey in the Road, thence running near the Road in Dorseys line So. 54 Et. 43 poles to a Road that leads from NEWGATE to WILLIAM CARR LANEs MILL, thence with said Road No. 14 deg. 30’ Et 6 poles to a branch, thence No. 1 deg. 30’ Wt 42 poles to a pile of Stones on side of said Road, thence So. 70 Wt. 29 poles to a pile of Stones, thence So. 39 Wt. 16 poles to the beginning; containing Six acres…[3]

Dorsey owned the House for six years before he sold the parcel to George Ralls in 1789.[4] Ralls obtained an ordinary license the next year.[5] Ralls was perfectly situated when the new town of Centreville was formed in 1792 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly. Ralls’s land was located at the center of town, and was directly on Main Street. The town of Centreville was laid out in a rectilinear grid pattern divided into 128 half-acre lots. Lots numbered 14, 16, 18, and 20 encompassed the Wapping land, with the House of Entertainment situated on lot number 16.

At Ralls’s death, Elizabeth Goran purchased lot number 16 from the heirs of George Ralls, though she had possession of it by 1818.[6] She likely obtained her first ordinary license about February 1818.[7] At the time Goran purchased the House, the economy was in the midst of a speculative boom, which ended in 1819 with a panic and depression lasting four years. The rate tavern keepers were authorized by the County court to charge for a nights lodging was drastically lowered during the depression. The rate for one nights lodging, which was set at $0.50 during the December Court of 1816, was down to $0.17 in July 1819 and $0.12 ½ in March 1820. Liquor rates also decreased, but at a lesser percentage.[8]

Goran, who operated the tavern with at least one slave, expanded the business by constructing a log addition to her tavern.[9] The addition extended onto an adjacent property, which Goran later purchased in 1823 from Humphrey Peake.

…a certain piece of ground situate in the Town of Centreville, on the West side of Main Street, it being part of a piece or parcel of ground which I [Humphrey Peake] purchased from James D. Lane decd and which had been purchased by him from Bates Dorsey, upon part of which said piece of ground the said Elizabeth Goren built the log addition to her tavern which she purchased from the heirs of George Ralls decd.

About 1831, Wapping was sold to Stephen Daniel. William Forsythe was occupying the house in 1850 when Daniel leased the house and lot to Lucy Daniel for the term of her natural life. After her death, it was to be sold and the proceeds divided equally among her children. Lucy Daniel was responsible for keeping the house in good repair, though she was not responsible for damages caused by the elements.[10]

Lucy Daniel had possession of the house during the Civil War when the town of Centreville was occupied by both Confederate and Union armies. Though several buildings in the town were destroyed during the war, Lucy Daniel’s house was not among them. In 1866, her house was not listed in the tax records as having been destroyed.[11]

In 1887, Belle Carter purchased the lot from Lucy Daniel’s children. She purchased other adjoining land, and by 1915 Carter owned 50 acres, including the old Wapping lot.[12]

In Colonial times, before there was a house of entertainment called Wapping, a store was located on the Mountain Road. The store was operated by William Jett and his wife Kathrine, whose father, Willoughby Newton, owned the land.[13]

After William Jett’s death, the store and 3 acres of land were sold to George Vandiveer.[14] Vandiveer may have used the store house to sell items he manufactured or repaired using various metals. In 1764, the firm of George Vandiveer and Co. sued several individuals, likely to recover funds that were owed the company.  Vandiveer was a metal smith, and at his death his estate inventory included money scales, a parcel of pewter, a parcel of tin funnels, a parcel of old iron, part of a set of smith’s tools, part of a set of silver smith tools, and five old gun barrels.[15]

The location of the colonial store on the 3-acre parcel is unknown.

[N.B. Though Lane’s store has previously been associated with this 3-acre parcel, it is more likely that Lane’s store was a couple miles west on the Mountain Road.]