D. S. Tavern is one of Albemarle County’s few remaining early ordinaries and the only one in the region to preserve its original bar cage. Tradition holds that the tavern marks the site of the D. S. Tree and the zero milepost of the Three Notched Road, a principal artery from Richmond to the Shenandoah Valley in the 18th and 19th centuries. “D. S.” is said to stand for David Stockton, who blazed the trail from Williamsburg and carved his initials on the tree. It could also stand for D. S. (Dissenters) Presbyterian Church, which stood here. The log section may have been constructed as a claims house. This one-room structure evolved with additions into an ordinary and functioned as such from the late 18th century until 1850. Among the owners of the D. S. Tavern was Chief Justice John Marshall, who held title from 1810 to 1813.