Benjamin Mosby operated a tavern on this site as early as 1741, when it was in Goochland County. In 1749, when Cumberland County was formed, the tavern served as its courthouse, and court sessions were held here until Powhatan County was created from Cumberland in 1777; for a time, court was held here for both counties. Benjamin Mosby’s son, General Littlebury Mosby Sr., who lived from 1729 to 1809 and was a leading figure in early Powhatan politics, was instrumental in locating the courthouses here. George Washington referred to the site as Cumberland Old Courthouse when it was a major staging area for Continental Army troops. On February 18, 1775, the Cumberland County Committee of Safety met here and composed the Cumberland Resolutions, one of the earliest calls for independence issued in the colonies. After Yorktown, troops of the Virginia Continental Line, ill-equipped, ill-fed, unpaid, and nearly mutinous, marched from here to the Southern Campaign of 1782, where they participated with valor and success in the final engagements of the war for independence.