At the corner of Riverside and yesterday.
A local landmark for more than two centuries.
The history of Beehive Augusta Tavern mirrors that of Augusta—and the nation. Our building was constructed in 1796 on land granted to a veteran of the Revolutionary War. Over the decades, the building has been a private residence, a general store, and a pharmacy. It was also the office for the ferry to Boudes Landing, which you can still
take or just watch from our windows today. During the Battle of Augusta in 1862, when townspeople fought hand-to-hand and house-to-house to keep Confederate troops from crossing the Ohio, the building was set on fire.
After the Great Flood of 1937, when towns along the Ohio were inundated in the midst of The Great Depression, our building, like all the row-houses on our block, fell into disrepair and continued to deteriorate for decades. In the early 1970s, visionary Augustans saved the row-houses from
demolition and succeeded in listing them on the National Registry of Historic Sites, launching a Riverside Dr renaissance.
In 1985, local resident, Cuban native, and classically trained opera singer Luciano “Sean” Moral bought the building and renovated it to house the first incarnation of The Beehive, thriving as a beloved
institution for more than 25 years. In 2017, neighborhood residents Lance and Lalani Bates, who have longstanding family ties in Augusta, bought the building and renovated it to bring a new life to the Beehive. They invite you to partake in our journey and become a part of history.
The story behind our name.
You might think the restaurant got its name because the Beehive "hums" as a meeting place for our neighbors and as a destination for boaters and weekenders. In fact, the truth is more literal. Back in the mid-1980s, when the former owner was
remodeling the building, he discovered a large beehive in the basement, and named the restaurant after it. It’s a simple story—but enough to create a buzz for more than 30 years.
