Daphne Dining Room, Raleigh Tavern

The Raleigh Tavern opened in 1932 as one of the earliest exhibition buildings at Colonial Williamsburg. One of the rooms open to visitors was the Daphne Room, a private room offered to tavern guests for holding meals and meetings. Interior decor for the Daphne Room consisted of a dining room ensemble, patterned wallpaper, and brocade curtains. Later research led to a reinterpretation of the room with plain painted walls and curtainless windows.

Above the fireplace hangs a painting entitled Imaginary Landscape (accession #1931.101.3), a gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller.  In anticipation of guests' needs, a bottle case or cellaret (accession # 1930-58) is pictured to the left of the fireplace. Cellarets functioned as portable wine cellars for holding wine and bottled spirits at mealtimes.