Plantations

The Fredericksburg area contains many of the most impressive Civil War homes and plantations in Virginia history. Chatham, Kenmore, Stratford and Ellwood, all working plantations, were built in the late 18th century and later served as Union headquarters at various times throughout the Civil War. Some of the scars these homes and estates suffered, during the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and The Wilderness, can be seen today in and among their stately structures.

Chatham

This Georgian-style mansion sits on a bluff overlooking the Rappahannock River and is best known for the role it played during the Civil War. The home served as a Union headquarters at various times throughout the war, particularly during the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862. The history of this magnificent home, its outbuildings, gardens and surrounding landscape, offer a unique understanding and appreciation of Virginia heritage. Five of the ten rooms in the 12,000-square-foot mansion are open to the public. House and grounds open daily 9am-5pm, except January 1 and December 25. Adults 17 and older, $4 (includes a 7-day pass to the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania Military Park). Children 16 and under, free.

120 Chatham Lane
Falmouth, Virginia
(540) 373-4461

Kenmore Plantation

Kenmore, one of the finest 18th-century houses in Virginia, lies in the heart of historic Fredericksburg. The house was built in the 1770’s by Fielding Lewis for his wife Betty, the only sister of George Washington.Lewis purchased the first parcel of this estate in 1752, two years after he married Betty. Her brother George surveyed the new property. In 1754, Lewis inherited adjoining land from his father, bringing the size of his estate to almost 1,300 acres. As a plantation, Kenmore had fields of tobacco, wheat and corn, a store and a shipyard on the Rappahannock River. A planter and merchant, Fielding Lewis was a prominent citizen of Spotsylvania County.

Kenmore remained in private hands until the Kenmore Association, now known as George Washington’s Fredericksburg Foundation, saved the mansion from destruction or division into apartments in the early 1920’s. Adult admission, $6; students age 6 through 18, $3. Family rate, $18. Group rates available. Open February 19 – December 30: open Monday through Sunday 11am-4pm. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

1201 Washington Avenue
Fredericksburg, Virginia
(504) 373-3381
website:www.kenmore.org

Stratford Hall Plantation

From its completion in the early 1740s, Stratford was a teeming complex of plantation industry. Except for its need of manufactured goods, it was a self-sufficient community. "A towne in itself" was how one visitor described it. Stratford Hall is one of the great houses of American history. Its magnificent setting on a high bluff above the Potomac River and its bold architectural style set it apart from any other colonial house, but its highest distinction is the family of patriots who lived there. The Plantation is still managed as a farm today on 1670 of its original acres. Come and enjoy an unhurried visit to the country!

Stratford, Virginia 22558
(804) 493-8038 M-F (9-5)
website: www.stratfordhall.org

Ellwood Plantation

On a knoll overlooking Wilderness Run sits Ellwood, a once prosperous, antebellum farm, which became a major Union headquarters during the Battle of The Wilderness, and where lies the amputated arm of General “Stonewall” Jackson. The surrounding estate covers some 642 acres and contains an array of stables, barns, slave cabins, and a kitchen. A dozen slaves supported the farm, working fields mostly of grain and corn. Once harvested, the annual bounty was then shipped to markets in Fredericksburg, 15 miles to the east.

Built by William Jones in the 1790’s, Ellwood remained in the possession of the Jones family for the rest of the century. In 1824, Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette dined at Ellwood during his triumphant tour of America. Legend also holds that “Light Horse Harry” Lee, Robert E. Lee’s father, wrote his memoirs in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

Ellwood’s fame, however, derives largely from its use during the Civil War. Its wartime owners were J. Horace Lacy, an ardent secessionist who served as an officer in the Confederate army, and his wife Betty Churchill Jones, daughter of William Jones. The Lacy’s used Ellwood as their summer home, choosing the grander Chatham as their primary residence.

Ellwood served as a field hospital for months after the Battle of Chancellorsville in the spring of 1863. Beverly Tucker Lacy, J. Horace’s brother and chaplain to General “Stonewall” Jackson, chose the Lacy family cemetery at Ellwood as the final resting place for Jackson’s amputated arm. In the fall of 1863, Union troops ransacked the estate’s library. But it wasn’t until May of 1864 that Ellwood took center stage during the Battle of The Wilderness.

For three days, Union artillery and soldiers occupied the grounds and fields on the estate. General Ulysses S. Grant, recently appointed commander of the Union armies, make his headquarters just a few hundred yards north of Ellwood. Generals Gouverneur K. Warren and Ambrose E. Burnside moved into Ellwood itself. And surrounding the house, outbuildings teemed with Union staff carrying orders to front-line troops.

By the battle’s end, Ellwood was ravished, its gardens dotted with graves, its fences destroyed. For eight years Ellwood stood vacant, occupied only by occasional squatters.

In 1872 the Lacy’s returned to Ellwood, having sold Chatham to pay off debts incurred during the war. The estate was sold to law professor Hugh Evander Willis in 1907, and thereafter once again became a modest Virginia farm. The National Park Service purchased the house and grounds in 1977, making it part of the Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania National Military Park.

To visit Ellwood you must first sign in at the Chancellorsville Visitor Center to receive a pass and directions. A $4 entrance fee per person for adults 17 and older covers entry to the park. The house is only open on weekends from late May to early October. Grounds and Lacy family cemetery, where Jackson’s arm is buried, are open to the public throughout the year.

Rt. 20, just off State Route 3
Orange, Virginia
website:www.nps.gov/frsp/ellwood.htm