The Tavern

The Tavern in Abingdon, Virginia stands as one of the oldest continuously occupied commercial buildings west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a structure whose antiquity and history contain within them multiple layers of tragedy, commerce, and alleged spiritual complexity that continues to actively manifest in contemporary times. Built in 1779 during the final years of the American Revolution, a moment when the future political structure of the continent remained uncertain, the building functioned from its inception as a tavern and overnight inn, providing lodging and sustenance to stagecoach travelers, merchants, military personnel, and others traversing the difficult mountain roads that connected settlements. The building's location positioned it as a crucial node in the region's commercial and social networks, a place where news traveled, goods were exchanged, and the various populations of the frontier interacted. The building's documented use as a tavern and inn extends through the late twentieth century and into the contemporary period, with the restaurant that currently occupies the space being established in 1994, creating a more than two-hundred-year operational continuity as a location for food service, alcohol consumption, and social gathering.

Throughout this extensive operational history, the tavern accumulated the reputation of being haunted, with reports of paranormal phenomena concentrating on several distinct entities and manifestations. Most prominent among the alleged spirits is the entity known as the Tavern Tart, a young prostitute whose death by murder at the hands of a client is believed to have occurred within the building, and whose spirit is said to remain present engaged in ongoing interactions with the living. The Tart's presence is characterized by playful and aggressive sexual behavior directed particularly at male patrons, including pinching or physically grabbing men on their backsides and watching them intently from windows, with particular manifestations of jealousy and possessiveness toward female visitors whom she apparently perceives as rivals. Her behavior suggests a spirit whose psychological development halted at the moment of her death and whose preoccupations remain focused on the sexual and romantic dynamics that defined her living existence.

Beyond the Tavern Tart, additional paranormal phenomena have been extensively documented through eyewitness observation and paranormal investigation. Phantom footsteps traverse the building's interior spaces, particularly in the upstairs areas and the second-floor dining room, creating auditory impressions of an unseen presence. Objects move and displace themselves without visible cause, doors move open or closed without human intervention as if responding to an invisible hand or will, and chairs move across the floor in ways described as quake-like or violently energetic. Paranormal investigators have documented video footage of a chair at three in the morning moving dramatically across the floor despite the room being empty and unoccupied. Electronic voice phenomenon recordings captured within the building contain alleged disembodied speech, with investigators interpreting phrases such as 'Pretty upset when I saw that,' 'not gone yet,' and 'go forth.'

The building's reputation as one of Abingdon's most haunted locations has made it a subject of active paranormal investigation and ghost-oriented tourism. The owner's comment that 'by midnight, we try to be outta here' reflects both pragmatic business practice and the pervasive reputation that paranormal activity intensifies during nighttime hours. The Tavern represents a location where more than two centuries of human commerce, social interaction, and tragic events have potentially left permanent imprints on the physical structure and its spiritual dimensions, creating a space where both historical research and paranormal investigation remain appropriate and potentially productive activities.