Calling all history buffs, water, or small-town enthusiasts who are looking for a respite from city-life, with easy living in a walkable town with great amenities and water access, not far from D.C. and Richmond, accentuated by the charm of living in a pre-revolutionary house.
We are selling our historic home, as is, and with most furnishings included if seller desires, which is The Old Customs House, a Georgian style home built circa 1750 w/ 19th century additions (some say parts of the house may be from 1680), located in the Tappahannock Historic District. The house is recorded with the Department of Historic Resources (ID 310-0005) as a contributing property to the Tappahannock Historic District (310-0024-0017), making it possibly eligible for historic tax credits and other grants for historic landmark preservation. The pre-revolutionary home sits on a bluff overlooking the Rappahannock River, right in the heart of town at the end of Prince Street near the water, and within walking distance to several restaurants, a small art gallery and museum, gift shops, an ice cream store, the post office, the courthouse, a small public sand beach, tennis/pickleball courts, the town park with splashpads and children’s playground, and the DAW theater which is in process of being restored. It is currently a private home and law office and had been a successful rental on Airbnb. This historic property served in the past as a Tavern or Ordinary & as a "Customs House" for the purpose of recording & collecting "customs" when the main source of commerce & trade was the Rappahannock River.
With two separate entrances, the main floors could be utilized as one living space with 2 bedrooms,1 ½ baths, kitchen, LR, DR and sunroom, and the English basement utilized as a separate apartment with a one-bedroom, full bath, family room with fireplace, laundry room with sink, (could be made into a small kitchen) and separate mudroom entrance.
This historic treasure features five floors, standing seam metal roofs, a three bay front, ten foot ceilings, original moldings and HL Hinges & other hardware, five fireplaces with a shared interior chimney, original heart pine floors, a walk up attic with LOTS of storage (the A-frame beams with the visible roman numerals used in the colonial-era during building), Flemish Bond Brickwork with Water Table, two stories over a multi-level walk-out basement, nine-over-nine sash windows w/ much original glass, a small covered porch facing the town & a large two story covered porch w/ breathtaking river views. The lot is around 871 sq feet and there is approximately 2,499 of living space.
A deed to Archibald Ritchie, a wealthy Scottish merchant, notes in 1750 that he owned the slip #77 on which the house resides. Ritchie made his sentiments clear that he agreed with the British and the Stamp Act, and when he could not be dissuaded to dissent by a group of locals led by Francis Waring and William Roane, on February 28, 1766, the Leeds town Sons of Liberty gathered outside of the home in protest, which led to Ritchie’s capitulation to their demands. John Whitlock later operated Whitlock’s Ordinary in this building, which catered to the region’s gentry, where verbal jousting and billiards, dice and cards, were the pastimes. Landon Carter wrote in his diary in 1771 that the tavern was a “very shocking place indeed…I think my time was very disagreeably spent among some laughing Gentlemen who ever make and often swear to what they make to raise a laughter on somebody.” George Washington later recorded in his diary that he had visited Whitlock’s Tavern. It is also reputed that he stayed here often while serving in the House of Burgesses. Ordinaries stood at most ferry landings (the old landing is still visible in the water near the house) and crossroads. Eventually the building was bought by Lawrence Muse, a Collector of Customs for the port of Tappahannock, which in 1786 was the chief port in the state, even more important at the time than Yorktown, as Tappahannock was an official tobacco inspection station. Ships from all over the British empire could be seen regularly off the shore. There is a rumor that smugglers constructed a secret underground tunnel between the customs house and the Brockenbrough house across the street to divert goods and avoid taxes. After Muse, a Colonel John A. Parker, who served as counsel to Hawaii, and as librarian for the U.S. House of Representatives, owned the house. In the 1900s, the home was purchased by Allen Latane, the editor of the Rappahannock Times who ran his printing press out of the basement, reinforcing the basement with steel beams. Latane would later publish a poem titled “Just A Little Cottage” in which he describes the house as “not a place of grandeur, but a lovely little nest, that breathes of home and love, of quietness and rest. Just a little cottage, that stands upon the hill, ‘neath massive, towering oak, a stately sentinel.”
We have owned the house for almost 20 years and love it for its historical significance and character, with the large rooms and 10-foot ceilings, thick brick walls which contribute to the warmth and coziness in Winter and coolness in Summer (especially the English basement), lovely natural sunlight, river views, and the multiple floors which allows for both privacy and gathering. The town side yard is just large enough to host a game of cornhole or croquet or relax in Adirondacks while grilling out enjoying the late afternoon sun listening to the church bells chime the hour. The large, covered river porch allows you to enjoy the gorgeous sunrises and sweeping river views while having your morning coffee, or perhaps just sitting undercover with a cocktail while watching the rain hit the water.
During our ownership, we have renovated both of the town porches (town side in 2023 and river side in 2017), upstairs dormers (2023), upstairs windows (2024), HVAC heat pump and upstairs ductwork (2015), water heater (2015), half bathroom (2015), sunroom interior (2015) and sunroom exterior (2023), upstairs full bath with marble and walk in shower (2024), re-painted main foyer and basement family room (2024), repainted upstairs bedroom (2015), installed chimney cap (2017), installed large driveway that easily fits a boat, or multiple cars (2007). Additionally, we exposed when doing yard work the town side brick patio and flower beds that had been reclaimed by the yard in the years prior to our purchase.
