Formerly: Witherspoon Tavern (from 1761) · Middletown Hotel (from 1844) · Witherspoon Bar and Package (after 1946)
Middletown, Delaware · Founded 2010 · Building: 1761 (substantially altered)
A modern Irish pub in Middletown's 1761 Witherspoon Tavern building, a documented 1775 stop for Thomas Jefferson.
Sully's Irish Pub at the Witherspoon operates at 12 W. Main St. in Middletown, inside the site of the 1761 Witherspoon Tavern. Delaware's official historical marker records that Thomas Jefferson lodged there on June 20, 1775. The present pub is a modern revival of a building that later became the Middletown Hotel and then Witherspoon Bar and Package.
David Witherspoon built the Witherspoon Tavern at what is now 12 W. Main St.; Delaware's historical marker describes it as a midpoint between waterways to the east and west.
Source: Delaware Public Archives, “Witherspoon Tavern” historical marker
Thomas Jefferson lodged at Witherspoon Tavern while traveling to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
Source: Delaware Public Archives, “Witherspoon Tavern” historical marker
A local-history account reports that George Washington dined at the Witherspoon on April 30 and May 19, 1784; the underlying primary account was not independently reviewed in this pass.
Source: Gene Pisasale, “Sully’s Irish Pub at the Witherspoon: A Middletown Time Capsule,” Middletown Life, Aug. 12, 2022
Robert Cochran purchased the tavern, refurbished it, and created the Middletown Hotel.
Source: Gene Pisasale, “Sully’s Irish Pub at the Witherspoon: A Middletown Time Capsule,” Middletown Life, Aug. 12, 2022
Part of the Middletown Hotel was destroyed by fire; the site was later turned into Witherspoon Bar and Package.
Source: Gene Pisasale, “Sully’s Irish Pub at the Witherspoon: A Middletown Time Capsule,” Middletown Life, Aug. 12, 2022
Charles Robert “Sully” Sullivan Jr. purchased the bar and began refurbishing the historic building.
Source: Gene Pisasale, “Sully’s Irish Pub at the Witherspoon: A Middletown Time Capsule,” Middletown Life, Aug. 12, 2022
Sullivan reopened the historic Middletown tavern as Sully's Irish Pub at the Witherspoon, according to Out & About Magazine.
Source: Out & About Magazine, “Historic Taverns Seek Modern Niche,” June 28, 2016
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
Delaware's official historical marker at the address expressly records Jefferson's lodging at Witherspoon Tavern on June 20, 1775. This supports the historical tavern connection, not a claim that the present Sully's business existed in 1775.
A local-history account gives dining dates of April 30 and May 19, 1784 and reports that the pub obtained supporting documentation from Mount Vernon. The underlying Washington account was not independently located in this review, so the claim should not be presented as fully documented here.
The present Sully's Irish Pub reopened around 2010. Although it occupies the site of a 1761 tavern, the property later became the Middletown Hotel, then a later bar and package business; the available record does not establish continuous operation of the current bar business since 1761.
Local historical writing and current promotional material call the structure Delaware's oldest tavern, but this review did not locate a statewide comparative inventory of surviving tavern buildings. The 1761 construction date is documented; the statewide ranking is not established here.
A 2022 local-history profile says Sullivan bought the bar in 2008 and refurbished the building, while a 2016 article says he reopened it as Sully's in 2010. Those accounts support his role in the revival, though this record does not establish the current legal operating entity or property ownership.
Sully's Irish Pub has operated continuously as the same bar since 1761.
The 1761 date belongs to the original Witherspoon Tavern and historic building/site. The property became the Middletown Hotel in 1844, later became Witherspoon Bar and Package after a 1946 fire, and reopened as the present Sully's Irish Pub around 2010.
Source: Delaware Public Archives, “Witherspoon Tavern” historical marker; Gene Pisasale, “Sully’s Irish Pub at the Witherspoon: A Middletown Time Capsule,” Middletown Life, Aug. 12, 2022; Out & About Magazine, “Historic Taverns Seek Modern Niche,” June 28, 2016
Sully's Irish Pub is Delaware's oldest bar.
The available evidence supports a historic 1761 tavern site/building, not a continuously operating present-day Sully's business. A statewide ranking for the oldest surviving tavern building was not established in this review.
Source: Delaware Public Archives, “Witherspoon Tavern” historical marker; Out & About Magazine, “Historic Taverns Seek Modern Niche,” June 28, 2016
The place has survived through reinvention rather than an unbroken business identity. The original tavern became the Middletown Hotel in 1844, part of that hotel was lost in a 1946 fire, and Charles “Sully” Sullivan Jr. bought and refurbished the later bar in 2008 before reopening it as Sully's Irish Pub around 2010. That adaptation preserved a historic gathering place while giving it a current neighborhood-bar role.
Sully's Irish Pub at the Witherspoon operates in Middletown's 1761 Witherspoon Tavern building. The original tavern later became the Middletown Hotel in 1844, part of the hotel was destroyed by fire in 1946, and the site subsequently became Witherspoon Bar and Package. Charles “Sully” Sullivan Jr. bought the later bar in 2008 and reopened the location as Sully's Irish Pub around 2010, according to local reporting.
No—not as the present business. Sully's Irish Pub reopened around 2010, although it occupies the site of the 1761 Witherspoon Tavern. The location's long tavern history does not document continuous operation of the current Sully's bar business from 1761, and this review did not establish a statewide winner for the oldest surviving tavern building.
Thomas Jefferson's June 20, 1775 lodging at Witherspoon Tavern is documented on Delaware's official historical marker. A 2022 local-history account also reports that George Washington dined there on April 30 and May 19, 1784, but the underlying Washington account was not independently reviewed for this entry.
12 W Main St, Middletown, DE 19709
(302) 376-8222
None on file
At the corner of West Main and South Broad streets in downtown Middletown; the historic tavern marker is at the address.