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<ocess a Unotcup~ed - I J ,v Wnrsrrrictqd Obnecr Barh a Bern9 consudsred 0Preservation wor4 in progress 1= No ' p U?E lCh-rk~ 3ne ~0r.uars nt~ Apprsprisre)~ ~ ~ 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;~ *- <KOH.NEDO F PROPEFITY I [ 7 b ~ * ~ ~ :.~ AwK. ' > 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) / <Check On?, - Orisinol Site L2 Al?ered L --.+ unoltercd 9 MOV~~ DESCRIBE THEL- P-ESENT AND Om>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, \<illiam Fanning I,:icic'nam, son of John Wickham, owner of the :'he 3 faous townhouse that now £oms part of the Valentine bluseum. ::ickhaas began construction of a frame plantation house and the laying ai onc of extensive Tardens saon after receivins the property, but did not / take up residence chere until 1827. The house burned in 1875, and the ~n ! arssent brick residence was bsilt shortly afterwards. The original z 1 oizbuildings survived the fire, however. and continue to form a fine 4 - ' plantation cmplex. The extensi~re arc'sns, with their venerable trees, tr?e box walk, geometric parc=r:~., and early walls, survive as well. Ii u I2 the garden is the only kno:.~ ,<:.:tant exm-ple of the OfEley Eose, a w .:zriety that :;as brought to Eanovcr County from the Nelson f'amily gar- - c---'c..J in Yorkto:m in the early-nineteenth century. Also on the grounds is a 3.agnificent Ginko tree ?resented to the ;.lickhams by Commodore Perry, I i4 ::no acquired it in Japan. 4 bring the mid-nineteenth century, Hickory Hill was the home of ....,r!lia Fannin~!Jickhmts .;.:n, ::illiams Carcer \.lickham, a distinguished :? stzttsnan, military leader an? buisinessman. !lilLia[ns C. \Tickham was elected to the Virginia House cf ielegates in 1849 and to the Virginia Seratt in 1359. AS a delc.;at.~ to the state Convention of 1861 he ~s,oitd succession, but I . .:a asiicclarc.:~, he accepted 3 milit~ry~0::;- C -...n?C. - fie participated in ci:t 5atr;les of !Jilliamsburg, 2nd >!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<ory Elill during the Civil Idor, i . : :ollovin: the battle o:' i!?nover Court tii:~lse in 1862. the plantdtion ; . 7: ilcupi~'iby I:edcral troo?;. Cer~er:~ll.!ic~;i~~m,wllo .<;,IS r~cL1~~er:1ti11~~ ;9. MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES I I Evans, Gen. Clement A., Editor.