The tavern was the site of reception dinners held for at least two Royal Governors upon their arrival to Virginia: Robert Dinwiddie in November 1751, and Lord Botetourt in October 1768.

[6] In May 1769, the Raleigh Tavern began its role as a center of sedition when Governor Botetourt dissolved the House of Burgesses, because of resolutions against the Townshend Acts.

The Marquis de Lafayette was entertained at a banquet here in 1824, and the building remained in continual use as a tavern until it burned at the hands of an arsonist in 1859.

[5] Accounts note that the Latin motto Hilaritas sapientiae et bonae vitae proles ("Jollity is the offspring of wisdom and good living") was written over the mantel.

[5][8][9] Historian Lyon Gardiner Tyler wrote of the room that it "witnessed probably more scenes of brilliant festivity and political excitement than any other single apartment in North America".