William Pitt Tavern, built in 1766 by John Stavers, is a building of special historical significance.

Stavers, an Englishman, was in Portsmouth by 1750. That year he opened a public house, an inn and tavern, on Queen Street (now State Street) under the sign of the Earl of Halifax. Taverns such as Stavers' provided lodgings for travellers, but were equally important as gathering places for the local citizenry. They served many of the same functions in New England as the coffee houses did in old England. The Tavern played a vital role in the community as a clearing house for information. Here newspapers could be found, local news and gossip exchanged, politics discussed, business deals confirmed. It also served as a meeting place for special groups.

John Stavers was a member of St. John's Masonic Lodge. St. John's held its regular meetings at Brother Stavers' inn almost from the time he first opened his doors. The lodge was so important to Stavers, in fact, that it determined much of the way his new hotel was constructed when he moved to the corner of Court and Atkinson Streets in 1766. Stavers' new tavern was designed so that the entire third floor could serve as a lodge room, well removed from the comings and goings in the rest of the tavern. The addition of the lodge room made Stavers' hotel exceptionally tall at a time when there were few three-story buildings in Portsmouth.

Other unique architectural features of Stavers' tavern were also determined by the needs of the lodge room. The stairway was placed unusually far to the rear of the building to avoid interference with the meeting room on the third floor. Also, in a frame building of this type in northern New England, the chimneys normally were placed about one quarter of the building's length inward from the end walls. The chimneys of Stavers' inn, however, were placed on the extreme ends of the building to accommodate the need for a large, open lodge room. The room was soundproofed with grain chaff in the walls and fine grey beach sand under the floor.

Although the Masonic Lodge was of major importance for John Stavers, his tavern was the scene of many other notable activities over the years. Stavers' taverns were the origination point of the first stagecoach service from Portsmouth to Boston. "THE PORTSMOUTH FLYING STAGE COACH," as it was billed in 1763, which "sets out from the Sign of the Earl of Halifax, every Tuesday morning," was a joint enterprise of John Stavers and his brother, Bartholomew, who was the regular driver. Speedy and comfortable travel were promised for both passengers and packages.
When the dispute began between Great Britain and her American colonies over trade, taxation and basic rights, Stavers' tavern could not avoid the political controversies of the coming Revolution. As John Adams later observed, at the out break of the Revolution the American public was almost equally divided between royalists, patriots and the undecided.

John Stavers loyalties are unclear, but were much doubted at the time. In January of 1775, a few weeks after mobs seized nearby Fort William and Mary, Stavers was among 60 local men who signed a covenant of association to "uphold the wholesome Laws of the Land" and to "defend and Protect Each other from Mobs, Riots or any unlawful attack Whatever." Of those who signed, some later became patriots, some royalists. In April of that year open conflict erupted at Lexington and Concord. In November of 1775 Portsmouth's Committee of Safety called Stavers before them; he attested that he believed parliament's late actions were unconstitutional and unjust and that he would oppose them; the committee certified that he ought not to be molested or hindered in his business on any suspicion unless his conduct should give cause. But as tensions mounted he was not left alone.

Eight months later the Declaration of Independence was signed and promulgated. The following January 29, 1777 Mark Noble tried to chop down Stavers tavern sign. Stavers sent out his enslaved African James to stop it; James hit Noble in the head with an ax knocking him unconscious (Noble recovered). Within two days the Portsmouth Committee of Safety arrested Stavers and along with fifteen others "notoriously disaffected to the American cause" turned him over to the New Hampshire Committee of Safety at Exeter, and sent testimony from men who had frequented Stavers tavern expressly to eavesdrop. When the committee released all in exchange for parole and a promise to appear before them the following Wednesday they kept Stavers confined in the belief his life would be endangered if he were liberated. The next day the axman himself, Mark Noble, petitioned for Stavers release. A deposition was collected from neighbor John Wheelwright. On February 5th the suspects returned to the state committee. Stavers was among twelve who were released on condition of a year's good behavior and posting bond of £500 each.

Stavers remained under a cloud of suspicion. The following May the state committee issued an order to the Portsmouth committee to bring before them fifteen people suspected "to be inimical to the American States" to sign another oath of loyalty. Stavers and two others signed the oath and were released; the remainder were jailed or had taken flight.

Stavers was not alone in his experiences. The Portsmouth Committee of Safety jailed other men merely because they associated with "Persons of a suspicious Character." Such abuses were perpetrated throughout the nation. A dozen years later the new Constitution defined treason very narrowly; merely unpopular opinions and affiliations were no longer treasonous.
Stavers subsequently re-named his tavern the William Pitt Tavern in honor of the British statesman who advocated the American cause in Parliament. Newspapers, thereafter, referred to it simply as Stavers Tavern. Stavers recovered the public's good opinion. Subsequent visitors reputedly included the Marquis de Lafayette in 1782, John Hancock, William Whipple, General Henry Knox and supposedly George Washington himself in 1789. Also in 1789, the Masons founded the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire Masons here.

John Stavers died in a carriage accident in 1797. His heirs briefly operated the tavern. Later it became a multi-family house. Strawbery Banke has restored it to its original condition.
Committee of Safety records provide little detail, but fifty years later the tavern-sign incident was described with much colorful but dubious detail as a riot.