Raleigh Tavern

The most politically consequential building in colonial Williamsburg that no longer exists in its original form. Burgesses dissolved by the royal governor in 1769 and again in 1774 walked down the street to the Raleigh's Apollo Room and carried on meeting anyway — the non-importation agreements and the call for the First Continental Congress both came out of this building. Jefferson danced here as a student; Lafayette was feted here in 1824.

The original burned in 1859. Its reconstruction in 1931 was the first project completed under Rockefeller's restoration scheme, which makes it the founding building of Colonial Williamsburg as an institution as well as a colonial landmark.

The bakery behind it sells gingerbread, cider and Sally Lunn bread without a ticket — a useful thing to know halfway down Duke of Gloucester Street on a hot day.