To facilitate the dig, the City of Williamsburg will close a 100-foot section of Nassau St. south of Duke of Gloucester St. from June 16 through August 24. Vehicles may still use Nassau St. north of Duke of Gloucester St. and south of the excavation area. Parking facilities located off Nassau St. will remain accessible throughout the project. In 1699, the Virginia colony moved its capital from Jamestown to the settlement of Middle Plantation, where the College of William and Mary had been founded six years earlier. The tavern, or ordinary as it was called in the period, continued to serve the citizens and visitors of Williamsburg until the mid-1720s, when it was razed.
Researchers disagree about the original owner and construction date of the ordinary.
Some argue that John Page transferred this land to his son, Francis, in the 1670s. Francis Page is thought to have built the structure as his private dwelling and that it was later converted into an ordinary. Others suggest that in 1663, Robert Weeks purchased 50 acres of land in this area. As county constable, Weeks received a license to keep an ordinary in his home. The excavation of the Nassau St. structure, part of Williamsburg's Tricentennial celebration, should help resolve the debate over who built it and when it was built.