A Widow, a Coffee House, and a Business of Her Own

Walk into Gadsby’s Tavern Museum and you might expect to hear stories about John Gadsby. But just next door, more than 200 years ago, another story was unfolding. It’s a story that feels strikingly modern. Hannah Griffith was running a business.

The Hannah Griffith Story

A powerful legacy for women business owners in the Port City community.

Source: “A London Coffee House, c. 1700,” British Museum (via Sylvia Prince Books)

In the late 1700s, Griffith operated the 1785 tavern (aka the “Alexandria Coffee House) while John Gadsby ran the larger tavern next door. Her work wasn’t unusual for the time. Notably, as many as two-thirds of taverns in Virginia were run by women.

Griffith’s path to entrepreneurship was shaped by the realities of her time. After being widowed in the years following the American Revolution, she supported herself and her eight children by running a successful business. She managed a high-end coffeehouse, welcomed guests, and built a livelihood in a world that offered women limited options.

Her story is now at the center of Gadsby’s Tavern Museum’s exhibit, “Women in Business: We Were Always Here.” The exhibit invites visitors to take a closer look at how women appear in the historical record and where they’ve been overlooked. That connection matters.

Source: “Fraunces Tavern Interior Illustration,” Fraunces Tavern Museum

Step outside the museum today and you’ll find a thriving community of women-owned businesses across Alexandria; they cover a spectrum including restaurants, boutiques, creative studios, fitness centers, and an array of service providers. The exhibit reminds us that women entrepreneurs are not new to this city. They have always been part of its economic and civic life. This spring, that story comes to life in a new way.

At the upcoming Spring Fling event at Gadsby’s Tavern Museum, visitors will explore Hannah Griffith’s legacy while also celebrating today’s women business owners who continue to shape Alexandria. The event creates a bridge between past and present, inviting the community to see themselves as part of a long and ongoing story.

Hannah Griffith didn’t use the term “woman business owner.” She didn’t need to. She ran a business, supported her family, and helped shape Alexandria’s history. Today, her legacy lives on in the museum galleries, but also in the women entrepreneurs building the city’s future every day.