Updated:
05/09/2008
Botetourt Building
Built by 1774. An advertisement in the Virginia Gazette on February 10, 1774, describes this architecture as a "Tavern at the Gloucester Courthouse". It was a large two-story building with billiard tables and offices of every kind. The Botetourt Building is of Flemish bond. It had three roofs; the first was of shingle (cypress), the last of slate. The porch was built on the foundations of the original porch. Arrangement of the bricks above the windows are for optical illusion. The second story room was a large meeting hall. Pegs on the wall are original. There was an old ice house back at the beginning of the woods and a smoke house in the backyard which is shown on an 1800 insurance policy.
In the later years the building was operated as a hotel and subsequently became a Community Center. In 1965, the building was bought and restored by the county and became The Botetourt Administration Building in Gloucester County. It is located on the outside of the Court House Green.
