Form 10-300 UNl TED STATES DEPdRTMENT OF THE INTERlOR STATE. (Rcu. 6-71) FlATlONAL PARK SERVICE Virginia I I COUNTY. NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Hanove r

INVENTORY - NOMINATIOH FORM FOS NP5 USE 5NLY

(T?.pe all entries complete applicghle sections)

[I- NAME . -- 1 C OMMCN, I HICKORY HILL ANOjOA HISTORIC; F 1 12. LOCATtON 1 ( STREET 4W3NUMBER: I

1 (Rickhm Crossing vicinity) 7th (J. Kenneth Robinson) STATE coOE ICOUNTY- CODE VIRGINIA 51 1 IW,WVXR 085 , r3- CLA~SIFICATION I CATEGORY I ACCESSjBLE OWNERSHIP {Check One) STATUS TO THE PUBL1C I

7 Oilfrrcr ;~u~~rldin~ Public Public Acquisif~on: Occupied 1 Yos: II 3 Rostrrct.d r3 Site @ Srructvre '3 Pri~~t- a In P

Agr~cult~rol @ ffovsrnmarrt [3 Pork [li Tronspertation 3 Commenta 1: 1: I Conmsrciol -C Industrial 5J Private Residence Q Othsr (Sprci*) I Educet~mol - Mi'ita~~ 0 Religious r)Entcrtolnnent C( Museum Seicntrf;~ *- 1 w I Idilliw.s Carter Wickham r,LTPEFT AhlC -iUSA?)F4- IS, -- r. [ S T A T E . '30F j3 Ash1 and i virginia JjOns 5 1 I+.~~~~;;~HoFLIo* L CESCRlPTlON TTGm-wx '-my or PEEDS ETC. I nI ! Panover. Count v Carrrt lipuse kru~cr*bat KukikF- :o < < ., .?

;,.I rv OFI TQ...-; tKhTE 7 I I I I Hanover Virginia ! --.-- - b. 9E-PESf tlTAT!?:j f~ FX]STINGS~JRVEYS ! ; I -,.- I -,.- -.------+ - -- { ! 1 TI t ,. f -, F '.I.,--, ,J 1- I t-1 -' i -. : I (::one ~YPV~OLIs 1~- recorded) ...-+-- -- . ------,-> :,At< OF= -,,v *'I- F a ; Stoto i County -- Cocnl - . . ,------ST- -! ': . 1.2slro;. 0 rr l- r 2r>v~TI, ~ ~ ~ , e ~ ~ , :<;>i I ,~.;Lx! p. DESCRIPTION.-..- . i T- --.'check one) 1 ! 17 Excellen? $1 God .I Fair - Dete,8~rotcd El Ru;ns U Un-xposed CONDITION (Chcck One) / CtNIL(ifknow! PwI5ICIL 49PE**INCE I Hickory Hill Plantation covers 3362 acres occupying most of the ; land north of State Route 54 between tnr towns of Ashland and Hanover Court 1 House. Much of the land is in timber although broad cultivated fields I are located around the residential complex and in the bottom lands of I : the Panunkey River in the northeast section of the plantation. A spur i of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad bisects the ~lantationalong the / ridge line between the high ground and the lowlands. I The plantation's core consists of a large brick house set in a I four-acre "pleasure garden" of lawns and formal gardens. The garden is I approached on axis from the south by a farm land lined with unusually large cedars. Its eastern approach is an informal lane which winds through the woods up from Wickham's Crossing, the ~lantation'sdepot. The present I plantation house was erected in 1875 and follows the same general lines / of the original frame house, erected in 1820, which burned. The fact that it was based on the earlier house accounts for the present structure's ! conservative architectural character; ordinarily a house of its form and details would date from prior to the Civil War. Its five-bay facade fronted by 1 ~edimentedtetrastyle portico with slender square columns 1I is 1 and a balcony. The two-story pedimented projections at either end of the house were added in 1915 to contain baths. ./ Projecting from the house's ! ; rear or south elevation is a two-and-a-half-story brick wing erected in : 1857 as a ving for the original house. Although gutted when the original ! house burned, the wing's walls remained in sound condition, and its inter- ior was rebuilt when the present house was erected. Sheltering the wing's south wall is a portico siililar to that on the facade, although it lacks I a pediment. The brickwork throughout the house is American bond and the

8 windows are all topped by rectangular stone lintels. The interior of the house's front section contains a wide stair hall with a large dining room on the west and a bedroom on the east. The library and parlor are located on a lower level in the ving. The interior architectural details are relatively sinple. Deeply nolded plaster corn- ices are employed throughout, and nolded architraves frame the windows and doorways. All of the first-floor principal rooms have fine marble mantels in differing designs and marble types. Adding much to the in- , terior's antiquarian interest is a reaarkable accumulation of family portraits, furniture, and silver, ranging ;in date from the late-eighteenth ceptury through the late-nineteenth century. Elany of Hickory Kill's original outbuildings survive and form an interesting zroup in their orm right. The matching one-story frame kitcnen and office buildinzs, dating iron the 18201s, face each other across the vide front yard defining a forecourt. To the northwest of the ynrd is the ori~inalsmokehouse as r~ell2s one of the statc,'s most im- pressive early dovecotes. To the south of the house stretches Hickory Iii ll's beautiful yard riith its si,7pepin% lawns and magniEiccnt specimens of -;h.-c!r and ornmental trres. A fence of brick picrs and voodrn pailings I :.:te.nds along the yard's :rest side separating the informally landscaped b~-tio~~of the yard fro7 the formal gardsns. At the north end of thf ic!lci. is an early brick jrecnhouse, and just to its north is an early Ir:!-'e toolhuuse. In the original (1320's) section of the i;arden is a :c,,-7~'Cricbox fiarilcn. The Enslisl~boxriood t~~hichoriginally lined the ;lu;rcrbeds ~indu.llks is no;, pra-tically a solid mass. south of ti,e box

~- - . SICNIFICAVCE "La13j r~h~ck- One orVors as A~~rOPrlnleJ I Prc-Col~mbaon U 16fh Cenrurr !:; l8.h cenru,, [IJ20th Centurv

A- cL5OF I GNt~I~~UCE,Chock One or ,nors as r(lpmpriatc~ Urboo PLann,ng *ior,gin.l 3 .Educ~qlm P.l;fi~.: -; - - C! Other (5pecif~J -. P,ehi.tor,r 3 Enpin.r.inj 1 R.ligl.n Phi. - .- - Hcstoric 3 1ndust.r losophv - .. Agrtcultur. c InwenPt~? i:J Science - *rchit.ctur. 3 Londsc.?. ,-J Sculp,urr -- A,, Architecf~re -So=wl Hman- - cornmarc. Literov,rc ,?Of,," - Communica,ion, M Military 0 Thcmter Con,.rrotien - - 8-i Muszc :T Tranr~orrotmn - ITAlTEUCZ7 3F SlGNiFICIINCE

Hickory Hill plantation was established by the Wickhams, a dis- tinguished Virginia family, and has been their home for five generations. m The plantation is associated with important aspects of Virginia social i and nilitary history, and its gardens survive as one of the largest and Z best preserved examples of ante-bellen landscaping inl.the state. 0 Hickory Hill originally iias part of the Hanover County holdings - of Kobert Carter of Shirley, Charles City County. In 1820 Cartzr gave t- 1717 acres of this property to his daughter, Anne Butler Carter, and u her husband, \!anassas, b :;30?.~30ro, Shar?sburg, Frcd?riiisburg, Gettysburg, and the Valley

I.._ ...... ~ 731'2. Irr 186; iie was i:lcctid . . to the ?on;edrrate Conyrcss, 2nd thc .. z+>:t :car hi. resixned his io:::ission as brisadicr general to take up .. > .. F . a t Follo:.?in~tile w~ir:;.: i.;rved 3s president oi the. Chcsapeakc .A?.: Ciio Railro3d and remair,~,. ac active leader in the conlpnily until ' .a ~iathin 1383. In 1890 rile :~neraL>\ssenbly provi~!sd for a statue ::rir;;l \.lickham that was ~r~ctidin Zlonrci- Parl;, Richmoni!. '2 .. . :.~i;iltin: took plncr ari,~;ndliicl

L~~17~oE.INC LeWGIT JOE cOOROIN*TELI I LATITUDE &NO LONGiTUOE C0011D1N1TES 1-1 -4 OF. A PdOPERTV 1 DEFINING I RECTANGLE DEF'NrNG CLhr=R I '*-OF-LLSS THIN TEN ACRES -~ I - - CORWEO LITlTUOE LATITUDE I LONClTUDE

77" 23' 56' - - - I APPROXIMATE ACREAGE OF NOU~NITEO PROPERTV 640 acres

LIST ALL STATES AN0 COUIITIES FOR PROPEWT1ES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTv 80uNnAR'Es

STATE

I I STATE: COOS COUNTY:

I I I ,I1 FORM PREPARED BY NAME IN0 TITLE VIRGINIA HISTORIC L,\SD>IARKS CObiC.LISSION STAFF

221 Covernor Street - ClTl OF1 TOWN: STATE Richmond Virginia 112. STATE LIAISON OFFICER CERTIFICA~ION I NATIONAL REGISTER VERIFICATION

I' As the dcs~gn~tedState Liaison Oiflcer lor the Na- I krcby that thts property is ~ncluded in the Saliunal Regisler iiV-t?hS), 1 hercbv nom~nntethis ;.i,,prr:y lor lacluston !, I In the Sationat Reyl?ter and crrrti) !hat 11 has been I! I

. . 1.Historic 1.anc1m- 3 ! I , , rhc ,V.~l~~n;zlEei!tslr.r SEP i 7 !?;:

11.11,. !,,at<. ~ ... GPO l),t.r34 Form 10.200. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE VIRGINIA NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES HAXOVER INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE -..-a ENTRY NVU-€I (Continuation Sheet)

7. garden is the famous tree box walk. The tree box are so large (avera- gin: forty feet in height) that they give the impression of a forest rather than a formal garden. Beyond the tree box walk is the later section of the I garden, laid out, for the most part, in the early-twentieth century. This section is divided into various beds and borders of flowers and fruits. A striking feature is the long grass path spanned by a series of ten rose ar- bors supporting several varieties of old-fashioned roses. Although the gar- den is not maintained with the perfection of former times, it continues to maintain the romantic atmosphere so characteristic of old Southern gardens.. At the edge of the woods to the northeast of the main house, sep- arate from the house and garden complex, is an interesting board-and-batten "othic Revival cottage built as a study by a former owner wishing to escape annoying music lessons being given in the house. i CCL

GPO 921.724 Form 10-X)Oo UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE pTiVIRGINIA NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES HANOV ER INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY EHIRY NUMBER DATE (Continuation Sheet) I

(,V"mb.. all mm..) 8. later exchanged. In 1863, Robert E. Lee's son, General W.H. F. "Rooney" Lee, was sent to Hickory Hill to recover from wounds received at Brandy Station. ~ederaltroops in the area learned of his presence and charged the house in order to take him prisoner. Lee's brother, Robert E. Lee, Jr., who was looking after him escaped capture by hiding in the garden, but "Rooney" Lee was taken prisoner and sent to Fortress >tonroe. Williams Carter Wickham did not inherit Hickory Hill until his father's death in 1870. Upon W. C. Wickham's death in 1888 the property was inherited by his son, Henry T. Wickham. Like his father, Henry T. Wick- ham served in the House of Delegates and the Senate. Since 1943 Hickory Hill has been owned by Captain Williams Carter Nickham, U. S. N. (Retired), son of Henry T. Wickham.

I CCL I

GPO ,?1.724 i ROAD CLASSIFICATION 1 Primary hjghway, all weather. Light-duty road, all weather 1 hard surface improved swiace Secondary highway. all weather, Unimproved road, fair or dry hard surface -weather ....-.... :I ... 7"-:3'56- Interstate Route . ;U S. Route State Rouie

ASHLAND. VA. , :..- ..-.;. ,,.. . N3745-W7722 5!'5

TTES'IILLE VIRGINIA 22903 avnll ASLE ON REQUEST

.AMS5359 :L SW-SERIES V33.1