Scotchtown (plantation)

Last updated

Patrick Henry's Scotchtown
Scotchtown (Hanover County, Virginia).jpg
Scotchtown Plantation
USA Virginia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location10 mi. NW of Ashland on VA 685, Ashland, Virginia
Coordinates 37°50′39.7″N77°35′4.4″W / 37.844361°N 77.584556°W / 37.844361; -77.584556
Area41 acres (170,000 m2) [1]
Builtafter 1717, expanded ca. 1760s
Architectural styleGeorgian/first period colonial
Website preservationvirginia.org/historic-sites/patrick-henrys-scotchtown
NRHP reference No. 66000835
VLR No.042-0030
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966 [2]
Designated NHLDecember 21, 1965 [3]
Designated VLRSeptember 9, 1969 [4]

Scotchtown is a plantation located in Hanover County, Virginia, that from 1771 to 1778 was owned and used as a residence by U.S. Founding Father Patrick Henry, his wife Sarah and their children. He was a revolutionary and elected in 1778 as the first Governor of Virginia. The house is located in Beaverdam, Virginia, 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Ashland, Virginia on VA 685. [1] The house, at 93 feet (28 m) by 35 feet (11 m), is one of the largest 18th-century homes to survive in the Americas. In its present configuration, it has eight substantial rooms on the first floor surrounding a central passage, with a full attic above and English basement with windows below. [1] It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965. [3]

Contents

The house is owned and managed by Preservation Virginia, which operates a number of other historic properties across the Commonwealth, including the John Marshall House, the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse, Bacon's Castle, and Historic Jamestowne.

History

The Scotchtown property was given as a land grant to Charles Chiswell, a prominent planter and iron mine owner, in 1717. Chiswell built a small house on the property, probably in the 1720s. It was expanded to its present size around 1760. [5] It was first given the name "Scotch Town" in a 1757 deed of sale. At this time the house also was used as a store that bought and sold local tobacco. [6]

Patrick Henry purchased the house in 1771 and lived there with his wife, Sarah Shelton Henry, and their six children. This was his home during his most influential period, including his famous "Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death!" speech at St. John's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia. It was also his residence when he was elected Governor of Virginia in 1776. His wife Sarah, who suffered from mental illness, died at the site in 1775. [1] [6] He resided at Scotchtown until 1777. That year he married his second wife and in 1778 they relocated, after his election, to the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg.

The house was purchased by the Wilson Miles Cary family after their original home had been taken over as a small-pox rest camp. They briefly resided there until attempting to sell it in December 1781. The house and land were transferred to Benjamin Forsythe in Hanover County's 1787 tax records, but Cary is charged once more in 1792. An ad in a 1794 Richmond paper announces, "Scotch-Town Grammar School will be conducted the present year by Peter and Thomas Nelson. Peter Nelson, Rector, St. Martin's, Hanover". [7]

Beginning in 1801, the property was owned by John M. Sheppard-Taylor. Little is known about the Sheppard-Taylor family, other than the changes they made to the appearance of the house over the generations. [6] Sheppard divided the land between his children, leaving his daughters Lavinia and Sally Taylor the house and a few acres. The house was abandoned after the death of Sally Taylor, until Hanover circuit court Judge Leon M. Bazile ordered the house to be auctioned. The house was sold to Preservation Virginia (formerly known as the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities) in 1958. [7]

Scotchtown was long believed to have been the girlhood home of Dolley Madison, wife of president James Madison, who was distantly related to Patrick Henry. But, there is little evidence beyond Madison's own recollections of the house as a child to support this fact. Dolley Madison's recollections may have been memories of visits to the house during her childhood. [6]

Preservation

The property was sold at auction in July 1958, when it was purchased by Preservation Virginia for $37,000. [8] Extensive archaeological work has taken place in the decades following. A number of projects have restored the house to its late 18th-century appearance, including rebuilding outbuildings such as the icehouse, kitchen, and law office. [6]

Scotchtown was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965 as an unusual 18th-century structure associated with a Founding Father. [1] [3] The property received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services in 1993 to "reexamine its policies, procedures, and the current condition of its collection and structures," [6] including restructuring its programming. It is currently open for visitors seasonally or by appointment. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Henry</span> American Founding Father, orator and politician (1736 – 1799)

Patrick Henry was an American politician, planter and orator who declared to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): "Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784 to 1786.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanover County, Virginia</span> County in Virginia, United States

Hanover County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 109,979. Its county seat is Hanover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Preservation Virginia</span>

Founded in 1889, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities was the United States' first statewide historic preservation group. In 2003 the organization adopted the new name APVA Preservation Virginia to reflect a broader focus on statewide Preservation and in 2009 it shortened its name to Preservation Virginia. Preservation Virginia owns historic sites across Virginia including Historic Jamestowne, located at Jamestown, Virginia, site of the first permanent English settlement in North America, and the Cape Henry Light house, one of the first public works projects of the United States of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montpelier (Orange, Virginia)</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

James Madison's Montpelier, located in Orange County, Virginia, was the plantation house of the Madison family, including Founding Father and fourth president of the United States James Madison and his wife, Dolley. The 2,650-acre (1,070 ha) property is open seven days a week.

Beaverdam is a small unincorporated community in Hanover County in the central region of the U.S. state of Virginia. The community was named after the beaver dams in the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial</span> 1000 acres in Virginia (US), affiliated area of the National Park Service

Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial, also known as Patrick Henry's Red Hill, in Charlotte County, Virginia, near the Town of Brookneal, is the final home and burial place of Founding Father Patrick Henry, the fiery legislator and orator of the American Revolution. Henry bought Red Hill Plantation at his retirement in 1794 and occupied it with his wife, Dorothea, and their children until 1799, the year of his death. In addition to the main house, Henry used another building as his law office. There were also dependencies and slave quarters on the working 2,930-acre tobacco plantation. The plantation was located on the Staunton River for transportation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodlawn (Alexandria, Virginia)</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

Woodlawn is a historic house located in Fairfax County, Virginia. Originally a part of Mount Vernon, George Washington's historic plantation estate, it was subdivided in the 19th century by abolitionists to demonstrate the viability of a free labor system. The address is now 9000 Richmond Highway, Alexandria, Virginia, but due to expansion of Fort Belvoir and reconstruction of historic Route 1, access is via Woodlawn Road slightly south of Jeff Todd Way/State Route 235. The house is a designated National Historic Landmark, primarily for its association with the Washington family, but also for the role it played in the historic preservation movement. It is now a museum property owned and managed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanover, Virginia</span> Census-designated place in Virginia, United States

Hanover is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hanover County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat and is located at the junction of U.S. Route 301 and State Route 54 south of the Pamunkey River. While historically known as Hanover Courthouse, the U.S. Geological Survey, Census Bureau, Postal Service and residents refer to it as "Hanover". The population as of the 2010 census was 252.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia State Route 54</span> State highway in Hanover County, Virginia, US

State Route 54 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. Known for most of its length as Patrick Henry Road, the state highway runs 18.67 miles (30.05 km) from U.S. Route 33 in Montpelier east to US 301/SR 2 in Hanover Courthouse. SR 54 is the main east–west highway of Hanover County, connecting the western part of the county and the county seat with the central town of Ashland, where the highway meets US 1 and Interstate 95 (I-95).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castle Hill (Virginia)</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

Castle Hill (Virginia) is an historic, privately owned, 600-acre (243 ha) plantation located at the foot of the Southwest Mountains in Albemarle County, Virginia, near Monticello and the city of Charlottesville, and is recognized by the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. Castle Hill was the home of Dr. Thomas Walker (1715–1794) and his wife, Mildred Thornton Meriwether (widow of Nicholas Meriwether III). Walker was a close friend and the physician of Peter Jefferson, and later the guardian of young Thomas Jefferson after his father's death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanover County Courthouse</span> United States historic place

Hanover County Courthouse is a historic courthouse located in the community of Hanover Courthouse, the county seat of Hanover County, Virginia. Built about 1735, it is one of the nation's oldest courthouses still in use for that purpose. It is historically notable as the site of the Parson's Cause case, which was argued by Patrick Henry in 1763. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973. A modern courthouse complex stands nearby, which now houses most of the county's judicial functions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fork Church</span> Historic church in Virginia, United States

Fork Church is a historic Episcopal church located near Ashland, Hanover County, Virginia. It was built in 1736, and is a one-story, gable roofed brick building. It measures approximately 34 feet by 74 feet and has walls 22 inches thick. The front facade features a small pedimented porch supported on square brick columns, both probably added in the early-19th century. Also on the property is a contributing church cemetery. Among the more-notable persons who often attended services at Fork Church were Patrick Henry, Dolley Madison, and the novelist Thomas Nelson Page. From 1893 to 1903, Fork Church's rector was the Reverend S. S. Hepburn, grandfather of actress Katharine Hepburn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slash Church</span> Historic church in Virginia, United States

Slash Church, also known as the Upper Church-St. Paul's Parish is a historic Disciples of Christ Church, formerly an Anglican/Episcopal church located at 11353 Mt. Hermon Road, Ashland, Hanover County, Virginia. Built of southern yellow pine cut from the property in 1729–30, it is the oldest frame house of worship still in use in Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dewberry (Beaverdam, Virginia)</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

Dewberry is a historic home and approximately 480 acre farm located at Beaverdam in western Hanover County, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church Quarter</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

Church Quarter is a historic home located at Doswell, Hanover County, Virginia. It was built in 1843, and is a one-story, three-bay, gable-roof, log dwelling. It has exposed logs with V-notching and two exterior end chimneys. Also on the property are contributing two late-19th / early-20th century outbuildings and the ruins of a brick orangery, known locally as the flower house.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birthplace of Patrick Henry</span> Archaeological site in Virginia, United States

The Birthplace of Patrick Henry (1736–1799), the Founding Father and American statesman from Virginia, was a farmhouse called "Studley", located in what is now the village of Studley in Hanover County, Virginia. The house, a two-story brick structure, was built in the 1720s by John Symes, whose wife Sarah married Patrick Henry's father John after Symes died. Patrick Henry was born in the house on May 29, 1736. By 1796 the farmstead included a significant number of outbuildings. The house was destroyed by fire in 1807, and now only archaeological remnants remain.

Colonel John Chiswell, was a planter, land speculator, early industrialist and member of the Colonial House of Burgesses who in his final years caused a scandal which led to his well-publicized death, possibly a suicide on the eve of his trial for killing a merchant in western Virginia.

Leatherwood Plantation of 10,000 acres was located in Henry County, Virginia, where American Founding Father Patrick Henry lived from 1779 until 1784. The plantation is probably named after Leatherwood Creek, a tributary to the Smith River (Virginia), which ran through the property.

Hanover County Public Schools is a school division headquartered in Ashland, Virginia. It serves approximately 17,000 students across 26 schools in Hanover County, including 15 elementary, four middle, and four high schools, one trade and technology center, one K–12 online school, and one alternative education school.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Stephen Lissandrello (February 12, 1975), National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Scotchtown / Patrick Henry Home (Scotchtown) (pdf), National Park Service (includes a map of the property)
  2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 "Scotchtown (Patrick Henry House)". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved April 11, 2008.
  4. "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  5. Bryan Clark Green and Bryan Townes (February 2009), Historic Structure Report for Scotchtown, Commonwealth Architects
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dean, Catherine. "History of Scotchtown". Preservation Virginia. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
  7. 1 2 Shaw-English, Virginia. "Scotchtown" Hanover County Historical Society Bulletin, Nov. 1993, Vol. 49, pp. 1,6.
  8. “Review of 1958 Events.” Ashland Herald-Progress, January 1, 1959, sec. 1.