Chelsea (West Point, Virginia)

Chelsea
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Virginia Landmarks Register
Front elevation, February 2016
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Location	N of jct. of Chelsea Rd. and Rte. 30, near West Point, Virginia
Coordinates	37°35′48″N76°49′46″W / 37.59667°N 76.82944°W / 37.59667; -76.82944
Area	510.5 acres (206.6 ha)
Built	1709
NRHP reference No.	69000253 [1]
VLR No.	050-0012
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	November 12, 1969
Designated VLR	September 9, 1969 [2]

Chelsea is a historic home located near West Point, King William County, Virginia. It was built in 1709, and consists of a two-story, brick main block with a hipped roof and 1+1⁄2-story, gambrel roofed rear ell. In 1764, Thomas Jefferson attended the wedding of an old friend, John Walker, at Chelsea; ^[3] sources commonly say (and Jefferson eventually, in 1805, seemed to acknowledge) that he later repeatedly made improper advances to his friend's wife, all of which she rejected. ^[4] In 1781, shortly before the Battle of Yorktown, Lafayette's army camped at Chelsea, and the Marquis de Lafayette used the house as his headquarters. ^[5]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. ^[1]

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
2. "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
3. "Chelsea Plantation - King William County, Virginia". Archived from the original on June 14, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
4. see, for example, Jon Meacham, "Thomas Jefferson: the Art of Power", Random House, 2012
5. Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission staff (September 1979). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Chelsea" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. and Accompanying photo

External links

Media related to Chelsea (West Point, Virginia) at Wikimedia Commons

• Chelsea, Mattaponi River, West Point, King William County, VA at the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)