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Home , Richard Henry Lee

Fonn 10-300 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (July 19691

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Westmoreland - INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY WUMmER DATE (Type all entries - complete applicable sections) I ,~ ',, ~, . ~ -4 . 1 COMMON: -- Chantilly (Richard Henry Lee House Site)

AND/OR HISTORIC? Chantilly

Lerty STATE CODE

ACCESSIBLE (Cheek One)

0 Dirfriet 0 Bui1dinp Public Publlca Acqulsltlonr pmwss O~CUPI" Restricted gX Sife Structure W Privak ig Unoccuplod b Unrertrictmd 0 Obiect Both king Conaide* .d P~nservationwork in progrorr NO

PRESENT USE (Check One or More 08 Amroprlefr) a Agricultural 0 Gowsrnnwnt 17 Park 0 Tronsportat~a, Cmmonts Commercial C) Industrial Prlvok Resldenw 0 Ghor fSmc#&) 0 Educetional Milltory Rellqloue [7 Entertainment 0 Muroum Selontillc

7

Mrs. W. Sherman .1b W STREET AND NUMBER: !? W Poet Office Box 466 m CITY OR TOWN: STATE: CODE Montrose Virginia 22520

Y- ' COURTHOUSE REGISTRY OF DEEDS. ETC: 0n Westmoreland County Courthouse STREET AND NUMBER:

CITY OR TOWN: STATE CODE Montroea Virginia 1 I

4 I n - '4 0 DATE OF SURVEY: n Federal Stolo 0 County Loco1 2 c z DEPOSITORY COR SURVLY RECORDS1 s m m-0 = 5 STROET AND NUMBER: m lemr zo r CITY OR TOWN: STATE: COOS -- < 0 4 m ''Qmp.~;,:.:<.. ;..?.,,: .:.;':., ; .. >....u..r ... . .r...... , , .., , ,, I v-"- (Ch8ck One) 1 Excmll.nt 0 Good Falr Dmhrlorokd Ruin. Unmxpos8d CONDITION (chmck on-) (Ch8 J One) IX) Alt8r.d Unalhmd Ywmd [p Original Sltm DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (If LIIOVR) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Shippen visited the house and wrote:

Chantilly "coynands a much finer view than Stratford ~&1~7by reason of a large.>bay into which the Potomac ?forms itself opposite Chantilly ... The house is rather comnodious than elegant. The sitting-room which ie very well ornamented, is 18 x 30 feet, and the dining room 20 x 24."

A inventory made in 1794 indicates that the house had a dining-room, library, parlor, and bedroom on the first floor, with the center hall being furnished as a sitting room. On the second floor there were four large bedrooms and a small one at the head of the stairs. The third floor contained two chambers, store-rooms, and closets. Tbe outbuildings include a kitchen, dairy, blacksmith shop, stable, and barn.3

By 1845 the Chantilly plantation house was in ruins. The manor house is not standing and there are no surface remains; the actual site is also unmarked. In 1967 the Archeological Society of Virginia began work and successfully located a portion of the foundations of the mansion. The owner hopes to complete the archeological project, to completely expose and then stablize the foundation8 of the house. The owner than plans to set aside approximately 10 acres, including the house site and former gardens, out of the 260 acres still in the tract as a historic site to memoralize Richard Henry Lee.

The land is now being used as a tree farm.

. 1. Frederick W. Alexander, Stratford Hall and the Lees (Oak Grove, Virginia, 1912), 98-99. 17 20th Cmntuy

a Archlmcturm 0 Londscapm 0 Sculpturm Archikcturn Soc~ol/H~n~n.

Communications a ~;ll~~~~ [7 Conmmrvotion

Site of "Chantilly," the home from c. 1757 to 1794 of Richard Henry Lee, a Signer of the Declaratdon of Independence for Virginia, planter, politician, President of the , and a United States Senator. The plantation house is no longer standing.

Brief Sketch of the Life of Richard Henry lee, 1732-1794

Richard Henry Lee, the 7th of 11 children, was born at the seat, "Strat ford," Westmoreland County, Virginia, on January 20, 1732, the son of 8 wealthy planter. He received his elementary education from tutors and was sent to England to complete his education. Finishing his course at the academy at Wakefield in Yorkshire in 1751, he probably returned to "Strat ford" in 1752.

In 1757 Lee married Anne Aylett, daughter of William Aylett of Westmoreland County, and about this time, and prior to 1762, established his residence at "Chantilly," located about three miles eatst of "Stratford," on an eetate which he leaeed from hLs eldoat brothar. His first wife died in 1768, leaving four children. Lee married Mrs. Anne Pinchard, widow of Thomas Pinchard and daughter of Colonel Thomas Gaskins, in 1769. There were five children by his second marriage.

In 1757, as for Westmoreland County, Lee first entered public life. From 1758 to 1775 he was also elected to the as a representative £ram Westmoreland County. In the Virginia legislature he obtained a position of considerable influence and working closely with and , did much to forward the radical and cause. Lee served in the Continents:. Congress from 1774 to 1779. Lee's influence in the Virginia Convention of May 15, 1775 led to that State's famous resolution calling for independence, foreign alliances, and a confederation of the colonies. Lee redrafted these reeolutiane in a more compact form and presented them to the Continental Congress on , 1776.

Lee resigned his seat in Congrese in May 1779 because of ill health. From 1780 to 1784 he was a member of the Virginia House of Delegatee; from 1784 to 1787 he was again a delegate to the Continetal Congress, and in 1784 served as its president for a period of one ear. Lee was chosen as a delegate to the &nstitutioIlal CO~entionof 1787 but the attend. led the opposition in ~0ngrea. against the idoption . Form 10-SDOa UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STATE Uuly 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Virginia

COUNTv NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Westmore land INVENTORY NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY CNTRV NUMBSR (Cantinuation Sect) DATE I (Wulm .I1 rnlr1.m)

8. Significance: (1) Chantilly (Richard Henry Lee House Site)

new Constitution, saying that it lacked a bill of rights. In 1789 Lee was chosen as a Virginia Senator in the new United States Government and he worked to see that the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution. In October 1792, broken in health, Lee resigned from the U.S.Senate and retired to "Chantilly," where he died on June 19, 1794. He was buried in the Lee family burial ground near Hague, Westmoreland County. ., . .:. .":{.! . : ?:,.:::;::;(:;:; :,y::. :~:~~~,~~j;~b,~,. .,:;!,::'>.; ~';,.~..~;'~;~<,~~:'.:'~ ,:.. .. .:;;:,.;,;.. .9..',MAJOR BlBtlOGRAPH1CAt REFERENCES :;:::: . . . .'.::::;;;!,:: ... .;: . . Dict ionarv of American Biography, Vol. XI, 117-120. Ar'ti.de by Edmund C. Burnett. . 4 . Oliver P. Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee: Statesman of the ~evol2tion (Morgantown, West Virginia, 1967). News. Warsaw, Richmond County, Virginia., Vol. 90, No.33- January 30, 1969. Virginia, A Guide to the Old Dominion (American Guide Series)(,1947) 546-547. Elizabeth Fields and Dr. J.E. Fields, Siyers Lived Here, "Daughters 1 ~^fhe~~~~l5l1.7. , , GRAPHICAL DATA - LATITUDE AND LONClTUDe C001OINATPI -- LATITUDE AN0 LONGITUDE COOROINATES DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PROPERTY 0 OEFININGTHE CENTER PolNrOF A PROPERrY I R OF Less THAN TEN ACRES 1 CORNER LATITUDE I LONGITUDE LATITUDE I LONG1 TUOE I l~egraasMinutas Sacandl I Dogrwal Minutes kconds ( Depnas Minutel Secondn NW a w 0 N E 0 . . 0 SE 0 . 0 I ;. SW P . 0 ;. APPROXIMATE ACREAGE OFNOMINATED PROPERTI: 10i acres out of a total of 260 acres LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE: I COO6 I COUNTY I CODE

COUNTY:

I I STA re: COOL

I I I

: ,, .:j':..'.i:i : 'I:.::::: . ..,.{.'~~<.:: :,'::;i;i' : .::::;:;,; :.i.:'':{.;;:;- EDBY. ..,, . . ,. ,, Charles W. Snell , Survey Historian ORGANIZATION Division of History, Office of Archeology and DAT~ Historical Preservation, National Park Service 6/4/71 STREET AND NUMCJLR: 801 - 19th Street, N.W. CITY OR TOWN: JTATL Washington D.C. I 1 [12. STATE LlAfSON OFFICER f ERTIFICAI ION NITIONAL REGISTER Y ERlFlCATlON 1 ' 1

As the designated State Liaison Officer for the Nu- 1 hereby certify that this property Is included in the tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Low 89665). I hereby nominate this property for inclusion Natiaml Register. in the National Register and certify that it ha5 been evaluated according to the criteria and procecbres set forth by the Natlo~lPprk Service. The recommended Chief, Office of Archeolopy and Historic Prsretvetfm level of signuicance of this nomination is: Natiorul State 0 Local 0

Date Nam? ATTEST: . -

Kwmr of The National Ragister

Kmte 'form 10-301 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Westmoreland PROPERTY MAP FORM

TO BE INCLUDED ON ALL MAPS 1. Proporey broundarles where required. 2. North arrow. 3. Latltude and longitude reference.

--.------I_- _------. . UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STAT L I NATIONAL PARK SERVICE i NATIONAL REGISTER OF HlSTORlC PLACES

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