In the parlance of the period a boarding house was a high class establishment with nicer accomodations and better food, and it required reservations. The assembly of the colony held sessions in his grape arbor when the afternoon heat grew to be too much in the State House. His cider was declared to be the very best in the Colony. In time he established a coffee house on his property. Fragments of Coffee services have been found on the site but they may date from the 18th Century.
Records refer to a coffee house on the site which is supposed to be a small detached building.
The site is run by the State of Maryland today. It is part of a larger living history museum, historic St. Mary's City. With Coffee establishments comming on so strong in America today it is a wonder that some company like Starbuck's has not heard of it and offered to fund reconstruction of Garret Van Swearingen's House, Coffee House, and Detached Kitchen.