Dranesville Tavern, Herndon VA

September 2023

I grew up in a remote suburb of northern Virginia, sufficiently distant from any sort of store that we had to drive if we wanted anything other than delivery pizza. That meant a lot of drives down Route 7, past the sign for historic Dranesville Tavern. I was always curious about it, but despite living in this area for over four decades, I never stopped by until now.

In America, it’s not often you can stop by a tavern from the mid-1800s. You can at Dranesville Tavern, though unfortunately, that’s all you can do.

During a Saturday of chores, as I drove by the Tavern’s sign for perhaps the thousandth time, I made up my mind and turned in, then drove down a windy access road and came to a surprisingly large parking lot given the building, large enough for maybe 20 vehicles. I parked, got out, and strode up to the building, looking forward to finally exploring the property. I admired the two-story, nearly 200-year-old architecture, which seemed recently renovated, then went up to the door.

It was locked.

I peered in, and could just barely see a 19th-century table, but otherwise few furnishings. So I walked around the building, checking the other entrances. They were all locked. Scaffolding on the back suggested that the building is still under renovation.

Frustratingly, while the tavern has a Wikipedia page, a Fairfax County public page and a Fairfax County government page, I could find no information online about when or if it’s open to the public. One webpage links to the county’s facility rental page, but the Tavern’s not on that page. It underwent repairs for termite damage back in 2022, but those were supposed to be completed by the end of that year.

Ah well. Expectations do not always match reality. Perhaps I’ll stop by again sometime to see if it’s open only on weekdays. Perhaps it’s only open by appointment. Perhaps I’ll never be back.

Still, it looks nice from the outside.