40170 Main Street
Open on Friday: 1:30pm to 5pm
Talbott House is the original portion of the Talbott’s Tavern property, which was constructed by Joseph Talbott, a disowned Quaker, in approximately 1810 when Waterford had a thriving retail environment which included several taverns. (The red brick house immediately adjacent to Talbott House on the left was an addition to the Tavern constructed in approximately 1811 and generally referred to as Talbott’s Tavern). Together they operated as a Tavern throughout most of the 1800’s.)
Today, Talbott House and Talbott’s Tavern are part of what is informally called “Arch House Row.” These residences have undergone considerable changes since the early 19th century: Interior partitions have been adjusted as families intermarried, sold and resold portions, or adjusted to suit their own tastes or needs. Doors, windows, porches, balconies, siding, even gables, all have changed over time.
Joseph Talbott, Jr. was born in Waterford in 1774 to a Maryland Quaker family but was dismissed in 1796 “for joining in light company, frolicking and dancing.” By 1801 he further blotted his record by marrying a non-Quaker and owning or employing a slave. He eventually sold the successful business in 1815 to Presbyterian Nathaniel Manning for $5600 and set up a new hotel in Frederick, Maryland.
Loudoun County’s earliest bank, was said to have been formed here or in the addition next door; the trustees later moved the Bank across the street to 40149 Main Street, which had a cellar vault. This has also been the site of the auctioning of some slaves in about 1820. The village was founded by Quakers, but enslaved African Americans lived in town and on surrounding farms alongside their free neighbors. The hotel/tavern went through a series of owners and businesses over the years, including a butcher shop and grocery store.
A later iteration of the property, The Loudoun Hotel, was the last commercial enterprise here in the 1920s, before being purchased by the Chamberlin brothers. Edward and Leroy Chamberlin, brothers from early Waterford families began their extensive restoration efforts in the village with this block of buildings in the 1930s.
Talbott’s Tavern is open through the courtesy of Skip Couser.