Historic Williamsburg

28. Tarpley's Store

Williamsburg, VA

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Merchant James Tarpley purchased the property on the southeast corner of Botetourt and Duke of Gloucester Street around 1759 and established a thriving business selling general merchandise. The location was excellent for trade, according to newspaper advertisements of the time, and residents considered it the busiest part of Williamsburg. The building became a clock and watchmaker's shop after 1767. Alexander Purdie, who operated the Virginia Gazette, began publishing his newspaper from the former Tarpley's Store around 1774. The old store burned down during the latter part of the nineteenth century, but Colonial Williamsburg reconstructed it using eighteenth-century archaeological evidence and historic documentation. Visitors can purchase cold drinks, candies and jams at Tarpley's Store, as well as glassware and pewter from several Colonial Williamsburg taverns.