Steuart Blakemore Building | |
---|---|
Former names | The Old Post Office |
General information | |
Type | Old Post Office |
Location | Lancaster, Virginia |
Town or city | Lancaster, Virginia |
Country | United States |
Coordinates | 37°46′11.8″N76°27′54.3″W / 37.769944°N 76.465083°W |
Construction started | 1900 |
Technical details | |
Structural system | Timber frame, wood siding |
References | |
Steuart Blakemore Building | |
Location | VA 3, Lancaster, Virginia |
Part of | Lancaster Court House Historic District (ID83003286 [1] ) |
Designated CP | August 11, 1983 |
The Steuart Blakemore Building, originally built in 1900 and used as the Lancaster Post Office until 1931, is a museum and historical archive, part of the Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library in Lancaster, Virginia.
It forms a part of a five building complex, located in the Lancaster Court House Historic District, which also includes the Old Jail (1820), Clerk's Office (c. 1797), and Lancaster House.
The Museum is open to the public, who may view exhibits, participate in educational programs and trace family histories. It seeks to recapture the stories and the rich history of the people of the Northern Neck of the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia.
The building has in recent years been used both as storage for the Museum collections and also as the office for the Lancaster County History Book Committee. [2]
The building was constructed by an attorney, Harvey Gresham, in around 1900. Gresham ran his legal practice from the back of the building and the post office from the front. Until that time there had been no official post office in Lancaster, though postal stops were made to local taverns or stores. [2]
After construction of a new Post Office during the 1950s, it became known as "The Old Post Office". [2]
In 1983 it was designated a National Historic Landmark, as part of the Lancaster Court House Historic District. [3]
The building was donated to the museum in 1986 by George H. Steuart, a native of Lancaster County. [4] Steuart was a Foreign Service Officer who retired as consul in Liverpool, England. He purchased the building in 1981, and named it in honour of his parents, local physician George H Steuart (1865–1945) and Irene Blakemore. [2]
Northumberland County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 11,839. Its county seat is Heathsville. The county is located on the Northern Neck and is part of the Northern Neck George Washington Birthplace AVA winemaking appellation.
Lancaster County is a county located on the Northern Neck in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 10,919. Its county seat is Lancaster.
Fredericksburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,982. It is 48 miles (77 km) south of Washington, D.C., and 53 miles (85 km) north of Richmond. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce combines the city of Fredericksburg with neighboring Spotsylvania County for statistical purposes.
Irvington is a town on the Rappahannock River in Lancaster County, Virginia, United States. The population was 474 at the 2020 census. Located on a peninsula known as the Northern Neck, it has been designated a historic district.
The town of Washington, Virginia, is a historic village located in the eastern foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park. The entire town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district, Washington Historic District. It is the county seat of Rappahannock County, Virginia.
The Northern Neck is the northernmost of three peninsulas on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Potomac River forms the northern boundary of the peninsula; the Rappahannock River demarcates it on the south. The land between these rivers was formed into Northumberland County in 1648, prior to the creation of Westmoreland County and Lancaster County.
Ferry Farm, also known as the George Washington Boyhood Home Site or the Ferry Farm Site, is the farm and home where George Washington spent much of his childhood. The site is located in Stafford County, Virginia, along the northern bank of the Rappahannock River, across from the city of Fredericksburg. In July 2008, archaeologists announced that they had found remains of the boyhood home, which had suffered a fire during 1740, including artifacts such as pieces of a cream-colored tea set probably belonging to George's mother, Mary Ball Washington. In 2015, the George Washington Foundation began constructing a replica of Washington's boyhood home on the site of the original building. The replica house was completed in 2018 and is open to the public.
Sperryville is a census-designated place (CDP) located in the western section of Rappahannock County, Virginia, United States, near Shenandoah National Park. It consists of a village with two main streets along the two branches of the Thornton River, together with surrounding pasture- and farmland. The population as of the 2010 Census was 342.
The Mary Washington House, at 1200 Charles Street in Fredericksburg, Virginia, is the house in which George Washington's mother, Mary Ball Washington, resided towards the end of her life. It is now operated as an 18th-century period historic house museum, one of several museums in Fredericksburg operated by Washington Heritage Museums. Today it displays 18th-century furniture, and her personal possessions, such as her "best dressing glass”.
The Lancaster VA Historical Society/Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library is a museum and historical archive in the Northern Neck of The Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, United States. Its purpose is to preserve the history of Lancaster County, Virginia. It opened in 1958 and was named in honor of George Washington's mother, Mary Ball, a Lancaster County, Virginia native and granddaughter of the ca 1653 emigrant, William Ball I.
Morattico is an unincorporated former post office town along the Rappahannock River in Lancaster County, Virginia, United States. It sits across Mulberry Creek from Belle Isle State Park. "Morattico" is an anglicized version of "Moraughtacund", the name of a Native American tribe whose primary village may have been on or near this site.
The James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library is a historic museum at 908 Charles Street in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It is located on the site of the James Monroe Law Office, used by future United States President James Monroe from 1786 to 1789. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966. It is now owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia and operated by the University of Mary Washington. The museum features original objects and memorabilia related to James Monroe, and includes items relating to other members of his family, including dresses worn by First Lady Elizabeth Monroe.
Blakemore may refer to:
Ottoman is an unincorporated community in Lancaster County located on the Northern Neck of the Rappahannock River in the U.S. state of Virginia.
St Mary's Whitechapel is an Episcopal church in Lancaster, Virginia, founded in 1669, and located three miles south of Lively, in Lancaster County, in the Northern Neck. The parish of St Mary's Whitechapel is notable for being the church of Mary Ball Washington, mother of George Washington, during her youth.
George H Steuart was an American diplomat and Foreign Service officer, and one of the last consuls of the United States of America in Liverpool, England. He was a major benefactor of the Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library in Lancaster, Virginia, donating by deed of gift the Steuart Blakemore Building, formerly known as the Old Post Office.
The Lancaster Court House Historic District is a national historic district consisting of 25 structures, including one monument, located in Lancaster, Virginia, Lancaster County, Virginia. Four of the buildings make up the Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library, founded in 1958, whose purpose is to preserve and interpret the history of Lancaster County, Virginia.
Steuart may refer to:
Verville is a historic plantation house located near Merry Point, Lancaster County, Virginia. It was built about 1742, and is a 1+1⁄2-story, brick Colonial style dwelling. It has a single-pile, central-passage plan. The gambrel roof and all woodwork was changed to conform with Federal style tastes in the late-18th or early-19th century.
Col. William Tayloe or Teylow (1645–1710) was the nephew of William Tayloe of King's Creek Plantation and High Sheriff of York County, Virginia, the father of John Tayloe I of The Old House and progenitor of the Tayloes of Mount Airy, Richmond County, Virginia. His coat of arms, Vert a sword erect Or between two lions rampant addorsed Ermine, matches those of Teylow in Gloucester, England. He immigrated with his brothers Joseph and Robert who later returned to England.