Rehoboth's last 18th-century commercial building

The Briggs Tavern at 2 Anawan Street is the only commercial building from the 1700s left standing in Rehoboth. It was built around 1780 in a spot locals used to call Stevens Corner. While most of its contemporaries have been leveled or replaced, this one has managed to stick around for over 240 years.

It is a wood-frame structure with a side gable roof and a clapboarded exterior. The main facade has five bays, with sash windows and a center entrance flanked by pilasters and topped by a rectangular transom with half-round tracery and a corniced entablature. A two-story ell was added to the left side in the 19th century, with a single-story hip-roof addition sitting in front of the ell.

Inside, the building retains paneled fireplace surrounds, chair rails and wainscoting. It also features splayed window lintels, which are a particularly rare feature in early Rehoboth architecture.

Today, the tavern has retired from its public-facing duties. It is now a private residence, and its 1983 listing on the National Register of Historic Places means it is officially recognized as a survivor of a different era.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons