John Jay, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1789-1795), dined at this house in Norfolk. The John Jay Papers are housed at Columbia University, and in Jay’s diary for October 12, 1790, he wrote “went to Norfolk – dined at the widow Wilcox’s – a bad house.” Who was the widow Wilcox, and why did John Jay dine at her “bad house?” Rosanna Pettibone Wilcox was a tavern keeper, appointed as such after the death of her husband. Back in those days, taverns were a necessity for travelers along the old north road from Hartford to Albany. Each year selectmen appointed a certain number of homeowners “to keep houses of publick Entertainment.” These annual appointments were quite desirable, as evidenced by the number of those who petitioned to be tavern keepers. Sometimes complaints were issued against tavern keepers for keeping disorderly houses of entertainment. Evidently Chief Justice John Jay did not approve of Rosanna’s tavern, pictured here a century later and still standing on Greenwoods Road just east of the entrance to Laurel Way.

Ann Havemeyer

Photo courtesy of the Norfolk Historical Society.