Historic Williamsburg

50. George Pitt House

Williamsburg, VA

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The George Pitt House, formerly known as the Dixon-Pitt House, stands on colonial lot 47 on the east end of Duke of Gloucester Street. Samuel Hyde was the first owner of this lot. He purchased it in 1717 for fifteen shillings under the agreement that he would build a residence on the property within two years. A large dwelling and a smaller shop were soon constructed on the site. Hyde sold part of the property to Richard Packe in 1719 and deeded him the remainder of the estate by 1729. Richard Packe passed away, and his wife Sarah, who ran a millinery business and boardinghouse, married Dr. George Pitt, a local apothecary. Sarah was nicknamed, "Much-marrying Sarah. " She had been married twice already to Captain Graves Packe and then to Richard Packe, and may have already been married to William Green at the time she Dr. Pitt met and moved in together. A 1755 item in the Gazette, addressed to Sarah's creditors, claimed that the former Sarah Packe's name was now Sarah Green and warned them "not to settle with George Pitt, or any person besides her Husband the Subscriber… William Green." Pitt ran his apothecary business, "The Sign of the Rhinoceros," from the smaller of the two buildings. He sold both structures to John Dixon in 1774, and Dixon in turn transferred the property to William Hunter, a local printer who owned a printing press on lot 48. Hunter was a loyalist and had acted as a spy for Cornwallis. He eventually joined the British army to fight against the patriots, and the Commonwealth confiscated all of his property, including the Pitt-Dixon house, a Williamsburg farm, his printing office, a 40-ton sloop, and all of his slaves. The original buildings were destroyed in a fire that tore through Williamsburg around 1896.