Shields Tavern
This Duke of Gloucester Street tavern traces to 1705, when it operated as Marot's Ordinary under Jean (John) Marot, an early Williamsburg tavern keeper; it later became Shields Tavern under James Shields and is now a costumed Colonial Williamsburg dining site. Marot died in 1717, and a plantation owner named Francis Sharpe was arrested on suspicion of his murder, though he was never convicted. The ghost of a caretaker believed to be Marot is reported wandering the tavern as if still checking that everything is in order, a watchful, proprietary presence. A second apparition, a small boy seen hiding or peeking out from beneath the dining tables, is linked to the later Shields era and the enslaved people who lived and worked on the property. Staff and guests describe the figures appearing briefly before fading, and the tavern features on local ghost tours.
📍 422 E Duke of Gloucester St, Williamsburg, VA 23185, Williamsburg, VA · Get directions