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Apollo Room, Raleigh Tavern, Williamsburg, VA, circa 1932

Subjects
InteriorsRestaurants & Taverns
Card type
Linen
Date
c. 1932 (Linen)
Front of Apollo Room, Raleigh Tavern, Williamsburg, VA, circa 1932, c. 1932 linen postcard
Front
Back of Apollo Room, Raleigh Tavern, Williamsburg, VA, circa 1932, c. 1932 linen postcard
Back

About this postcard

The Apollo Room at Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, Virginia, is shown as a restored colonial gathering room with a long table, chairs, a fireplace, and a keyboard instrument with sheet music in the foreground. Above the fireplace is the Latin inscription "Hilaritas Sapientiae et Bonae Vital Proles" (likely Vitae), translated on the card as mirth, the offspring of wisdom and good living. Raleigh Tavern was a leading 18th-century inn, and its Apollo Room served as a center of social and political activity from about 1740 until the tavern burned in 1859. Colonial Williamsburg reconstructed the tavern during the 20th-century restoration.

Postcard Details

Message

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PublisherColonial Williamsburg, Incorporated
Apollo Room, Raleigh Tavern Above the fireplace in this tavern room is inscribed "Hilaritas Sapientiae et Bonae Vital Proles" — (Mirth the offspring of wisdom and good living). From about 1740, until the tavern burned in 1859 the Apollo was a center of social and political activity.
Addressed to

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Postcard record

PublisherColonial Williamsburg, Incorporated
Series98
ConditionVery good
Place depictedRaleigh Tavern, Williamsburg, VA
PublisherColonial Williamsburg, Incorporated, Williamsburg, VA
NotesWhite border; visible linen texture. No postmark. Divided-back card printed in Switzerland for Colonial Williamsburg; white border on front; unused — no message, address, or sender written. Colonial Williamsburg interlocked CW monogram logo printed inside the stamp box.

Cite this card

Apollo Room, Raleigh Tavern, Williamsburg, VA, circa 1932, postcard, c. 1932. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/apollo-room-raleigh-tavern-williamsburg-va-circa-1932. Accessed November 2, 2026.