Madden's Tavern
Civil War era log structure

This simple log structure is a rare relic of pre-Civil War black entrepreneurship in rural Virginia. Completed about 1840, the tavern was built, owned, and operated by Willis Madden (1799-1879), a free black man, and was likely the only tavern in the region owned by an African American. Virginia free blacks were able to earn and keep wages and to own and operate a business but were forbidden to vote, bear arms, testify against a white person, or be educated. Madden built the tavern on property purchased in 1835 on the Old Fredericksburg Road. Half of the structure was Madden's family quarters; the other portion consisted of a public room and a loft for overnight guests. A general store and blacksmith-wheelwright shop was also on the property. Union troops sacked the tavern in 1863-64.

The property is still owned by Madden's descendants. It was also known as Maddenville Farm.

People in the Places

Sarah Madden (1758-1824)

The daughter of an unmarried Irish woman and a black man, Sarah Madden was taken from her impoverished mother at age two and indentured until age 31 to a man in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Because of debt, however, his widow transferred the indenture to Colonel James Madison of Orange County. Sarah Madden, age nine, became a personal servant and learned to sew and launder clothing. One of the Madisons’ several children was James, Jr., later president of the United States. Sarah had three children while living with the Madisons, and under the law they too became indentured. They were listed as free negroes in the Madison household. Their indentures were given to his Col. Madison’s son Francis in Culpeper. He, however, was in need of funds and sold them to a man in Pennsylvania. Much distraught, Sarah eloped to Fredericksburg to appeal to the court. She was successful but not quick enough—the three oldest children had been taken away by the time she returned to Culpeper.  An infant remained with her, and she had several more children in the afteryears. After Sarah’s indenture ended in 1789, she moved to Stevensburg in Culpeper County where she lived for the remainder of her life. She earned a living as a seamstress and laundress, and over time acquired a dairy herd. In her later years her son Willis helped to support her. She died in 1824. The family placed a large boulder to mark her grave.

Resources

• T. O. Madden, Jr. We Were Always Free: The Maddens of Culpeper, Va.: A 200-Year Family History. New York: W. W. Norton, 1992.

Willis Madden (1799-1879)

Willis Madden. [Obtain permission from T.O. Madden family.]

Sarah Madden’s son, Willis, was ambitious and multitalented. He learned many skills, including blacksmithing, shoemaking, distilling; and he did them all while also working as a teamster. He married Kitty Clark in the early 1820s. They had two children by 1827 when Kitty’s mother came to live with them, and then had seven more. In 1835, Willis Madden bought eighty-seven acres of farmland and a run-down old house where his mother had once lived as a tenant. It was poor land, he knew, but it was also located on a well-traveled road midway in the two-day journey between Culpeper and Fredericksburg. Willis Madden built a blacksmith shop, a wheelwright shop, and general store. He allowed drovers and other travelers to camp on his property and he provided provisions and services. Then, he and his sons built a house with two sections—one for the family and one for paying guests. By the 1850s, Madden’s Tavern was a popular stop for travelers as well as men from the local community. His accomplishments were remarkable by any standard, but they were especially so given the many laws and social customs that restricted free blacks in antebellum Virginia. During the Civil War years, however, Confederate and especially Union troops ravaged Madden’s property, reduced him to near-poverty, and drove him into a depression from which he never recovered. He died in 1879. The property remains in the family.

Resources

• T. O. Madden, Jr. We Were Always Free: The Maddens of Culpeper, Va.: A 200-Year Family History. New York: W. W. Norton, 1992.