Historic Williamsburg

20. Grissell Hay Lodging House

Williamsburg, VA

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The Grissell-Hay Lodging House may be one of the earliest homes on Market Square. Dr. Archibald Blair, who was the first owner, purchased the lot from the City of Williamsburg around 1716. As a requirement for owning the land, Blair was obligated to erect a house on it within two years of the date of purchase, so the core of the house probably dates to 1718 or earlier. Dr. Blair was a Scottish physician who studied medicine at the prestigious University of Edinburgh. He arrived in Virginia around 1690. Dr. Blair's brother was James Blair, the first president of the College of William and Mary. Archibald Blair, James Blair and Colonel Philip Ludwell were business partners. They owned the Prentis Store, which was Williamsburg's most prominent mercantile business at that time. Dr. Blair died around 1735. John Randolph was the next owner of the property. Randolph was a Tory sympathizer, and he feared for his safety as the Revolution neared. He left for England in 1775. Researchers aren't sure when he purchased the property, but he sold it to Peter Hay, a local apothecary, in 1763. After Peter Hay died in 1766 his widow Grissell needed a means to support herself, so she converted her home into a lodging house. On February 18th,1768 she placed an advertisement in the Virginia Gazette that announced, "I take this method to inform the public that I have very commodious lodgings to let for a dozen gentlemen, and their servants, with stables and provisions for their horses, and shall be much obliged to those who will favour me with their company." She passed away in May 1778. The exterior of the house appears as it would have looked around the mid-eighteenth century.