HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
Petersburg's oldest surviving tavern, built at the end of the 18th century, carries local tradition of four resident spirits and a 19th-century murder.
High St, Petersburg, VA 23803
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
No current admission; exterior viewable from public street
Access
Wheelchair OK
Downtown sidewalk
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1795 · Identified as Petersburg's first tavern and inn · Survived the Great Fire of Petersburg · Colonial-era commercial structure in Petersburg's historic core
Dodson's Tavern sits on High Street in Petersburg's historic commercial core, recognized locally as the first inn and tavern established in the city. It was built in the years following the American Revolution, when Petersburg was developing as a significant tobacco-trade center along the Appomattox River.
The tavern survived the Great Fire that swept through much of Petersburg in the 19th century, making it one of the older commercial structures remaining in the downtown. Its survival through two major conflicts — the War of 1812 and the Civil War, during which Petersburg was besieged for nine months in 1864–1865 — gives the building an unusual continuity within a downtown that lost much of its antebellum fabric.
Local historical accounts, relayed through Petersburg's ghost walk tradition and preserved in local journalism, describe the tavern's 19th-century reputation as a stop for travelers moving through the region. The building's current status and any active use have not been independently confirmed in recent sources.
Sources
The dominant legend attached to Dodson's Tavern describes a 19th-century murder: a traveler staying at the inn is said to have boasted about the money he carried, and was killed for it in the building's hallway. The story continues that a formerly enslaved man was accused of the crime and hanged in the tavern's backyard, despite having no documented connection to the murder.
This narrative is preserved in Petersburg's ghost walk tradition and has circulated through local ghost-tour operators for at least the last decade. It is not, based on available sources, corroborated by court records, newspaper archives, or other contemporary documentation — it exists as an oral tradition that may or may not map onto a specific historical event. The wrongful-execution element in particular, while plausible given the legal environment of the 19th-century South, should be treated as legend unless documented sources are located.
Local television coverage from WTVR in 2019 noted a resident cat that reportedly reacts to areas of the building associated with paranormal claims. Petersburg ghost-walk writers have consistently included Dodson's Tavern as one of the city's primary dark-history stops, citing it alongside documented Civil War and antebellum sites.
Dodson's Tavern sits in Petersburg's historic downtown core. The building is viewable from High Street as part of a self-guided walking tour of Petersburg's colonial commercial district.
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Petersburg, VA
Hiram Haines, a Petersburg newspaper editor and close friend of Edgar Allan Poe, established this tavern at 12 W Bank St in 1829. Poe and his teenage bride Virginia Clemm lodged in the second-floor suite during their honeymoon in May 1836, making it one of the few verified Poe sites in Virginia outside Richmond.
Staunton, VA
Built in 1890, this downtown Staunton structure has hosted several businesses over the decades, including a YMCA facility. Three deaths have occurred on the premises: a heart attack, a fatal fall into a coal chute during the YMCA era, and a third-floor suspected suicide.
Winchester, VA
The federal-style redbrick building at 8 West Cork Street dates to the 1830s; two neighboring buildings acquired for the tavern's later expansion were demolished, and the enlarged three-property space opened in December 1995. Originally private residences, the ground floors housed a feed store and a Baptist church before possibly operating as a speakeasy during Prohibition. The Rustic Tavern opened in 1932; the current Cork Street Tavern began in 1985.