Old Homes
Lynnhaven
Parish Parishioners'
Historic Homes
Six of these Virginia Beach houses are open to the public.
Times vary and sometimes are closed for private meetings or renovation. Please
check the below web sites for current schedules. The house number is posted
first, followed by the construction date, address, zip code and contact number.
(13) 1650s - The
Lynnhaven House: 4409 Wishart Road, 23455: 385-5100
(14) 1732 - The
Francis Land House: 3131 Virginia Beach Boulevard, 23452: 385-5100
(19) 1759 - The
Upper Wolfsnare House: 2040 Potters Road, 23454: 491-3490
(23) 1793 -
Whitehurst-Buffington House: 2441 N. Landing Rd, 23456: 427-1833 or 427-1151
(25) 1830 -
Ferry Plantation House: 4136 Cheswick Ln, 23455: 473-5182
Early 17th Century Estate Land Area
(supper-imposed on Bob Clark’s 1691 Map)
(1) 1635 - Adam Thoroughgood (1604-1640)
(2) 1634 - Thomas Allen (c.
1600 - 1650)
(3) 1679 - Thomas Keeling
(1608 - 1664)
(14) 1634 - Francis Land II
(1604 - 1657)
(5) 1634 - Henry Woodhouse III
(1607 - 1655)
(11) 1642 - Colonel Thomas
Walke I (1642 – 1694)
(8) 1649 - William Moseley I
(1601-1655)
The houses first built on the estates are gone with
the exception of Thomas Allen's House (no. 2) and possibly Thomas Keeling's house (no.3). Since the land had
already been cleared of trees and a foundation existed, a newer house most likely was built
on top of the old one. Houses no longer in existence (NLE) are noted.
\/ House Number
(1) 1635 - Adam Thoroughgood House No 1. (NLE)
(2) 1634 - Broad Bay Manor / John B. Dey
House
(3) 1679 - Adam Keeling House
(4) 1637 – The John Lovett House
(5) 1638 – The 1st Henry Woodhouse House (NLE)
(6) 1660 - The Thoroughgood
House
(7) 1649 - The Weblin House
(8) 1650 - Rolleston (NLE)
(9) 1673 - Lawson Hall
(10) 1681 -
The James and Grace Sherwood House
(11) 1720 - Fairfield Manor (NLE)
(12) 1699 - The Hermitage
(13) 1650s - The Lynnhaven House
(14) 1805 - The Francis Land House
(15) 1734 - The Carraway House
(16) 1730 - Green Hill Plantation
(17) 1751 - Summerville
(18) 1752 - The
John Biddle House
(19) 1759 - The Upper Wolfsnare House
(20) 1764 - Pembroke Manor
(21) 1764 - Poplar Hall
(22) 1791 - The Taylor-Whittle House
(23) 1793 - The Whitehurst-Buffington House
(24) 1782 - The Walke Manor House (Ferry Plantation 1)
(NLE)
(25) 1830 - Ferry Plantation 2
(26) 1790 - Pleasant Hall
(27) 1791 - The Thomas Murray House
(28) 1810 - The Thomas Woodhouse House
(29) 1811 – The Wells Plantation House
(30) 1827 – Bayville Farm Manor House (NLE)
(31) 1897 – The Charles M. Barnett House
(32) 1830 – Oak Hill
(33) 1832 - Old Comfort
(34) 1855 - White Acre (NLE)
(35) 1860 - Church Point Manor
(36) 1920 - The Parks Home
From
its earliest seventeenth century beginning in a wilderness area populated by
mostly Native Americans to the early twentieth century, these are some of the
homes and estates that housed former Lynnhaven Parish / Old Donation Episcopal Church
parishioners. Each house shows the distance and direction from Old Donation Episcopal
Church (ODEC). Houses are listed
in chronological order of construction date. Where there is a disputed date, the earlier date is used. Several houses were modified with additions added. In some cases another newer house was built over the foundation of the old house. Those listed with an asterisk (*)
are available for public tours. House marked (NLE) are no longer in existence.
Sketch of Adam Thoroughgood’s first
home at today’s Battery Road in Baylake Pines
Picture from Amy Castle’s Virginia
Beach, Then and Now, 2010
(1) 1635 - Adam Thoroughgood House No 1 (NLE) (4.3 miles north) on Battery Road in Baylake Pines near
the shoreline of Lake Joyce, the site of today's Susan Boland's home, professor
at TCC.
According to Susan, in April 1955, after finding Indian artifacts while excavating for a driveway, she called in Archeologist Floyd Painter to investigate. He found remains of an Indian village plus remains of a colonial house. Painter concluded the house was a wood structure occupied ca. 1635 – 1650, most likely by Adam Thorougood. The Indian village became known and Apasus and the dueling, Adam Thoroughgood’s first house. Mixed in were Indian artifacts which could have indicated English settlers interacted with the local Chesapeake Indians or that an Indian village was there before the English arrived. Whatever the case, the site had most likely been cleared before the English arrived. The house was next to the Lynnhaven River on fairly high ground called Indian hill. Before 1667 the river had not yet punched through a one-mile sand bar at today’s Lesner Bridge location. This stretch went four miles west to today’s Joint Expeditionary Base (JEB), formerly known as Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek.
(2) 1634 - Broad Bay Manor - Thomas Allen / John B. Dey
House at 1710 Dey Cove Drive (9.7 mi east). Thomas Allen was granted 550 acres of land and built his
house in 1634. He was a lawyer at Lynnhaven Parish witnessing wills including
one for the Henry Woodhouse (1607 - 1655) and bills of sale including one for Colonel
Francis Yeardley (1620-1655), Sarah Thoroughgood’s third husband. The house passed
on to three generations of Cornicks and then to three generations of Ferebees. John B. Dey bought the house in 1914. His holdings
extended from Broad Bay to the western branch of the Lynnhaven River and
included Ocean Park Beach fronting the Chesapeake Bay, just west of today’s
Lesner Bridge. The Ehrenzellers are the current
owners and have a record proving that Thomas built the house in 1634. This is the
oldest house in Virginia Beach continuously occupied from the time it was
built. The house was laid in Flemish bond brick, created by
alternately laying headers and stretchers in a single course and is on a
beautiful site facing Ferebee Cove. It consists of one room and a loft with
dimensions similar to the Adam Keeling and Adam Thoroughgood houses built a few
years later. The interior dimensions are 17'-2" by 22'-7" including a
fireplace at one end (3'-2" by 10'-3"). The original upstairs was a
low loft and accessed by ladder.
Over
the years owners have built additions onto each side of the house (as seen above) which is now over 15,000 square feet. There is a graveyard and another house in the backyard in ruins (it's date unknown) built also in Flemish bond brick.
References - “VA Beach, Then and Now,” page 31 and "Old Houses in Princess Anne, Virginia," page 210..
(3) 1679 – The Adam
Keeling House at 3157 Adam Keeling Road (8.5 mi east).
Thomas Keeling I (1608 - 1664) was one of Adam Thoroughgood’s 105 indentured servants who came in 1628 on the ship Hopewell. After working off his indenture Thomas was awarded land earned by rules established by the Virginia Company of London and built the house in 1636. He became one of the vestrymen who assembled at the first Lynnhaven Parish service on Sunday May 17, 1637 in Captain Adam Thoroughgood’s home. Thomas later purchased more land extending his estate south to London Bridge. A Virginia Pilot article October 24, 1926 states, “The farm [known as the Keeling Tract] contains the famous old Keeling house, a brick structure that was built in 1636, and which is still in an admirable state of preservation.”
The dreadful hurricane of 1667, destroyed the house. Thomas’s son Adam (1638 - 1683) rebuilt it. In the book, “Some Old Norfolk Families,” by Meredith H. Clarkson, Jan 1, 1976, on page 210, “Adam Keeling (1638 - 1683), built the beautiful home known as ‘The Dudley.’” When Adam died his will (Lower Norfolk County Court record (book 4, page 155) titled “Adam Keeling’s will of 25 April, 1683” bequeath to his son Thomas II this home and the Plantation called ‘The Dudleys’.”
Thomas II (1674-1714) is generally acknowledged as having commissioned the construction of the third house in about 1679, the house now standing. A survey of the Keeling House for a Works Progress Administration of Virginia Historical Inventory was undertaken in 1938, with the date of construction listed as “prior to 1681.”
Nevertheless, there is considerable debate as to the age of the Keeling House standing today. Wood dating by the Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory presented to the Virginia Beach Museums has dated the construction date at about 1735. As with the Thoroughgood and Lynnhaven houses, this date does not provide a historical reference.
In August 1667 Thomas's son Adam (1638 - 1683) organized a group of neighbors to dig a pilot channel from the Lynnhaven River through a huge sandbar about a half-mile long to the Chesapeake Bay so small boats and canoes would not have to make a four mile journey west to the mouth of the river at Little Creek. Their work is commemorated by a sculpture of a 26' wide by 46' tall starburst of ten canoes installed in late 2018 at the west entrance to the Lesner Bridge . It was created by Donald Lipski who got the idea for the canoes from the first type boats to cross through the inlet Adam and his neighbors dug.
About a century later, there was a record of slaves being part of the estate. A neighbor wanted one of them, Juggy Owens, 28, to be set free. Court records show Juggy was emancipated October 1, 1792. She is the fifth-generation ancestor of Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, an American singer and actress.
The Keelings retained ownership of the Keeling House up through the Civil War years until the house was sold to John Avery in 1881. At about that time it was revealed that three slaves (Eliza Willy/Wilroy, Wilson Willy/Wilroy and Samuel Willy/Wilroy) were listed in Solomon Keeling's will as belonging to him. He was one of the last Keeling House owners.
In 1999 Henry Keeling, a direct descendant of Thomas Keeling (1608-1664), originated the Old Donation Endowment Fund Trust with a one million dollar plus post mortem bequest from his estate.
References:
"Virginia Beach, Then and Now,” by Amy Hayes Castleberry, 2010, page 26
“Some Old Norfolk Families,” by H. Clarkson Meredith, page, 1976, page 210
"Queen Latifah's Roots
tracing to Princess Anne County,” https://www.pbs.org/weta/finding-your-roots/watch/episodes/this-land-is-my-land
(4) 1637 – The John Lovett House - 1721 Lovetts Pond Lane (8.8 miles east). About 20 yards from the Green Hill Plantation House is a small brick cottage. It is a two room hall-and-parlor cottage with a loft area above, two unusual outside front doors, solid 12 inch thick English brick walls, and two substantial brick chimneys on each end. The house built by John Stratton circa 1637 is similar to the 1640 Adam Thoroughgood House, the 1636 Adam Keeling House, the 1634 Broad Bay Manor, the 1649 Weblin House, and the 1690 Lynnhaven House, all built before transitioning to the 18th century Georgian architecture. The house is located on a 700 acre 1636 land grant given to Henry Southell along the south shore of present Long Creek and Broad Bay. Long Creek was then known as "Stratton's Creek." A city map dated 1919 shows Stratton's Creek running from the Lynnhaven River all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. The Southell's, along with the well known early Princess Anne families of Thorowgood, Keeling, and Capps, were all established in Lynnhaven Parish within a few years of each other. On March 6th, 2016 at Old Donation Church the Princess Anne County/Virginia Beach Historical Society hosted the Archeological Society of Virginia Nansemond Chapter. Bert Wendell, Jr. Past President of the Nansemond Chapter gave a talk describing excavations for artifacts in areas around Green Hill Farm and along Broad Bay. He also provided facts about the John Lovett House located next to the Green Hill Plantation house. He cited a reference from a Virginia Cultural Resources Information System (V-CRIS) site form for Green Hill Plantation titled "2014 Archaeological Testing Research Design" by Dr. Mike Barber, Ph.D., Virginia State Archaeologist. The document stated that the John Lovett House was once used as a kitchen and was built circa 1637.
(5) 1638 – The 1st Henry Woodhouse House at
1233 McCullough Lane (no longer in existence) (11.4 miles East) at Alanton on
Linkhorn Bay at the end of McCullough Ln. Henry Woodhouse III (1607 - 1655) came to
Virginia in 1630 and built his home shortly after a 1637 grant of 500 acres as
headrights for providing passage to indentured servants to work his estate. He was
a member of the first Lynnhaven Parish Vestry from 1642 to 1643. His land was
what is now Alanton and the “Desert,”
the land near Fort Story at Cape Henry which had high sand dunes until
excavated down during WWII for fear the German U-boats could use their
prominent appearance from miles off shore to guide them up the Chesapeake Bay. Generation
after generation of Woodhouse’s helped shape Lynnhaven Parish Church. On July
10, 1706 Captain Woodhouse was on the jury that heard the case against Grace
Sherwood, accused of being a witch. Capt William Woodhouse (1739 – 1774) fought
in the Virginia and Continental Armies during the Revolutionary War (1775–1783).
John S. Woodhouse was one of the vestrymen who in March 1856 signed the minutes
for the last time until the church was restored in 1916. Vestryman George H.H.
Woodhouse (1840 - 1915) was a soldier in the Confederate Army and his memorial
plaque is on the wall of the church. Josiah Woodhouse (1863 - 1929) worked to
restore the church from 1910 to 1916, and along with his wife and infant
daughter, are the only Woodhouse’s buried in Old Donation historical cemetery.
(6) *1660 The Adam Thoroughgood House - Below is a picture taken from The History Of Lower Tidewater Virginia Volume I, page 265, published in 1959 by Rogers Dey Whichard (1902-1945)
The following revised history of the Thoroughgood House is summarized from JRIA’s document, the “Archeological Assessment of the Adam Thoroughgood House Site, Virginia Beach, Virginia,” May 2006, by Nicholas Luccketti.
On 24 June 1635, the Governor of Virginia awarded Adam Thoroughgood (1604-1640) 5,350 acres of land between the Chesapeake Bay and the West Lynnhaven River. Adam moved his family from Kecoughtan (today’s Hampton) to his undeveloped lands. Dwelling remains were found at today’s Battery Road in Baylake Pines, and archeologist Floyd Painter was called in to investigate. He concluded “that this site actually represented Thoroughgood’s first house...and that the house was occupied ca. 1635-1650.” The Thoroughgood family lived there until the house burned down in about 1650. During that time Adam died in 1640, and his wife Sarah (1609 – 1657) continued to live there with her 2nd and 3rd husbands, Captain John Gookin (1613-1643) from 1641 until his death and Colonel Frances Yeardley (1620-1655) from 1647 to 1650. Living there were Sarah’s five children; Ann (1630-1703), Sarah (1631-1658), Elizabeth (1633-1670), Adam II (1635- 1686), and Mary (1642 - 1700). After the fire, “Adam II must have lived his adult life in a different dwelling” and when he was of age he built a house; its construction date not listed and no evidence of its exact location, only suggesting “it may have been in the vicinity of his father’s house.” Adam II and his wife Frances Yeardley had six children, born between 1659 and 1672. Adam II died in 1686 and left his house to his oldest son Argall I (1659- 1700). In Argall I's 1700 Will, he describes the house and its contents which was used to prove Argall I "did not live in the extant Thoroughgood House." (the house now standing). This house, which was never located, apparently was the one Argall I's son Argall II (1687 - 1719) grew up in, married Susannah Sandford in 1704 and had two children. Argall II started construction of the Thoroughgood House now standing, but died at the age of 52 while the house was still under construction. His wife Susannah Sandford finished it in about 1719.
Historians have not realized there was a Manor House
Several historians have claimed the Thoroughgood House (still standing) to be the "Manor House" mentioned in various writings. Whichard provides irrefutably evidence that
(1) Adam Thoroughgood started construction of the Manor House in 1639, not the house standing today, rather next to the first house Adam built about 1634 near today’s Lake Joyce.
(2) Later, around 1660 or earlier, his son Adam II (1635- 1686) built the Thoroughgood House (still standing).
The best evidence is in the history of
Lynnhaven Town which grew and flourish for 53 years alongside Lynnhaven Parish church, and then saw its demise from lack of protection against pirates, severe storms, and other issues. The center of towns was the church in the 17th century, and when the people moved the church three miles up the Western Branch of the Lynnhaven River to Ferry Farm Settlement, that should have been evidence of a population shift. About the same time that Lynnhaven Town was in decline, the Eastern Shore Settlement also started losing people. In 1695, finding Ferry Farm as a suitable location, especially with the new Lynnhaven Parish Church, the Eastern Shore Settlement courthouse and jail was torn down and the timbers shipped to Ferry Farm Settlement and re-built next to the Lynnhaven Parish Church.
Starting with the 1607 arrival of the Jamestown Settlers to the Hampton Roads area, the people were all Anglican Englishmen. A discussion of population movement has to start with the “Church” and the courthouse and jail that were usually situated next to it. JRIA failed to investigate this. If they had, it is inconceivable that they would ascertain that the construction of the Thoroughgood House was around 1719, right in the heart of a dead town!
The following is a history that follows Roger Dey Whichard’s research.
Adam Thoroughgood’s (1604-1640) first house (1635), was temporary until a more substantial house could be built. In 1639 Adam started the construction of a more substantial house near his first house. It became known as the Manor House. Adam died in 1640 during its construction, and his wife Sarah Thoroughgood (1609 – 1657) had the Manor House completed in about 1645, and she moved in with her five children. Both the temporary 1635 wood house and brick 1645 Manor House were along the four-mile length of the Lynnhaven River which ran to Little Creek until the Lynnhaven inlet opened (at today’s Lesner Bridge crossing).
The assumption that the Thoroughgood’s lived in Adam’s first house until it burned down in the 1950s is refuted in various historical books and documents that substantiate Sarah used the first house for an “ordinary” (tavern), and from evidence Floyd Painter found during his 1955 investigation, Sarah may have also used the house as a trading post and the cellar as a trash pit.
When Sarah’s oldest Adam II (1635-1686) turned 21 he married Frances Yeardley, and the next year his mother Sarah (1609-1657) died. Adam II remained in the Manor House for about four years until 1661 when the Thoroughgood House (the house now standing) was completed and he and his family moved in when John (1661-1701) was born and Argal I (1659-1704) was two. When Adam II (1635-1686) died, he had raised a family of six children. He left the Manor House to his eldest son Argall I (1659- 1704) and his descendants, and the Thoroughgood House (still standing) to his second son John (1661-1701) and his descendants.
The 1645 Manor House
Argall I (1659-1704) was Adam II’s first son. In 1680 he married Pembroke Fowler and moved from the Thoroughgood House (still standing) into the Manor House. They had five children: Adam (?-1719), Frances, Elizabeth, William (?-1724) and Argall Thorowgood II (1687 – 1719).
*Argal II (1687 – 1719)
married (1704) Susanna Sandford and had 2 children, Pembrook Thorowgood (?-1749) and John (? -1763). John and his wife Mary had one child John Jr. (1738-1803). John Jr. became commander of the Princess Anne County militia rising to become county lieutenant in command of all its militia. Sometime between February and September of 1781, he was captured. Pleas were made for his exchange but he was still a prisoner of war in August 1782.
*William (?-1724) married Patience Church and had 3 children:
Mary, Argall, and Adam (1718- 1768). Adam married Mary Thelaball and had 5 children: Elizabeth, Mary, Abigail, William and Lemuel (1763 - 1785). Lemuel married Sarah Calvert before 1785. Sarah was the daughter of Thomas Calvert and Elizabeth Thorowgood. Lemuel commanded troops protecting Princess Anne, Norfolk, Accomack, and Northampton counties. The British had taken over the Thoroughgood estate, home to Lemuel, his wife Sarah, and Lemuel’s father Adam Thoroughgood (1718-1768) and his wife Mary. When British soldiers told Sarah they would give her husband a pardon if he would stop fighting and come home, she bravely stood up to them and in the tradition of Thoroughgood wives, she replied with rebellious indignation, "I would rather see him dead!" During that time, in short order, Lemuel became a Captain, then a Major, and finally a Lt. Colonel by the end of the war. As a result of a war-time wound Lemuel died in 1785 at the age of 22.
The 1661 Adam Thoroughgood House (the house still standing)
In 1679 Col John Thorowgood (1661- 1701), Adam II’s second son, married Sarah "Ann" Stringer (1663-1692) and remained in the Adam Thoroughgood House. They had 2 children:
(1) Anne Thorowgood (1679-1692)
(2) Elizabeth Thorowgood (1692-1712) married William Moseley (III) in 1704. William died in 1750.
Col John then married Margaret Lawson in 1695. They had four children
(1) John Thorowgood Jr. (?-1719). He married Pembroke Fowler who was the daughter of George Fowler and Mary (wife of George Fowler). They had 2 children, Margaret and John.
(2) Anthony Thorowgood. (?-1705).
(3) Margaret Thorowgood.
(4) Mary Thorowgood.
Of the three houses, the Thoroughgood House is the only one remaining. The other two, being closer to the Chesapeake Bay, were probably destroyed by frequent storms, or abandoned along with the other Lynnhaven Town folks.
References:
*“The History of Lower Tidewater Virginia,” by Roger Dey Whichard. Volume I, 1959
page 264:
“Just when the existing Thoroughgood House was built is difficult to say. Former writers on the subject have assigned the date 1636-40 on the assumption that it was the Manor House, which is clearly not true. The construction…points to a date possibly 1660 or earlier.” “the Manor House (which is no longer standing), built by Adam (I) – therefore by 1639 – and inherited by his only son Adam (II). Upon his mother’s death in 1657, he [Adam II] finally came into complete inheritance and no doubt moved his large family into the Manor House which had been his father’s principal residence. The other house, in which he had lived since his marriage, may very well have been the Thorowgood House still standing today.”
page 265: "A brick in the west wall [today's Thoroughgood House] bear the inscription "Ad.T.," which would indicate remodeling by Adam Thorowgood (II): only thus can we explain the use of the above initils instead of simply "A.T.," in order to distinguis between Adam (II) and Argoll Thorowgood." ..."Another medieval feature of the house was the lack of a central hall, with entrance directly into the larger of two downstairs rooms; this was later altered by addition of a partition corresponding to the original inner wall, resulting in two downstairs rooms of equal size, with a central hall between." Even with this addition of the partition, the Thoroughgood House is a typical hall-and-parlor 17th century style out of place if built in 1719, and completely out of place when compared alongside early eighteenth century homes which were Georgian style with twelve or more rooms, the norm for families of wealth.
pages 60-61, “…in 1695 an attempt to establish a town was started by Argoll Thorowgood. This was called ‘Lynnhaven Town’ and some authorities think it was near Lake Joyce…. There are several references to the fact that the town had been laid off near the mouth of Lynnhaven River …As there are very few references to ‘Lynnhaven Town’ in the old records, it is possible that the development was not very successful..… James Tenant owned a number of these [lots in Lynnhaven Town] for in his will made in 1771, he says ‘All my land at the Bayside, called Lynnhaven Town.’ This section is called ‘Bayside’ today.”
*“Old Houses in Princess Anne Virginia,” 1958, by Sadie Scott Kellam, page 163-165 “the following facts concerning the laying out of a town by Argall Thorowgood in the year 1695. The town was located on the southside of Lynnhaven River (this would probably be in what is now Lake Joyce). Before 1771 James Tenant owned a number of them [Lynnhaven Town lots], for in his will made in that year, he says, ‘All my land at the Bayside called Lynnhaven Town’ shall be rented until William Thorowgood, orphan of Argall, comes of age….Argall laid out his town hoping to stem the tide which seemed to be sweeping inland away from the more exposed waters towards a more protected roadside....While scanning the further title of the lots as they passed to new owners, we never came across any reference to buildings having been erected thereon.”
*“Deserted Villages in Tidewater,” the Richmond Times, Nov 1, 1936, describes Lynnhaven Town, built in 1637, virtually abandoned by 1735.
*The Thoroughgood House, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 2011, by W. Paul Treanor
page 76 - "In 1699, Argall Thoroughgood, Adam's II's oldest son, having apparently the properies left him by his father, decided to lay off a town near the original entrance of the Lynnhaven River. He set off sixty acres of land and had a surveyor lay it off in lots. He named it Lynnhaven Towne. The town did not prosper and eventuallly passed out of existence."
page 86 - "In 1680, when Argall [Argall I] married Pembroke Fowler, he moved her into a home he had built before their marriage."
*The Thorowgood Family : 7-Adam II, 28-Argall I, 29-John
http://www.ghotes.net/thorowgd/index.htm#i17453
*
In “Architecture of the Old South,” 1993, (pages 17-18), Mills Lane says the Adam Thoroughgood House “was actually built in the 1680’s for one of his [Adam Thoroughgood’s] descendants. The original seventeenth-century interior was obscured by eighteenth-century improvements, and the building has been twice restored, in 1923 and 1957, so that little seen by visitors, including the restored casement windows, is the original. Nevertheless, the strong horizontality, imperfect symmetry, and massive T-shaped chimneys with steep, tiled weatherings of Thoroughgood House are typical of the period.”
*"Old Houses in Princess Anne Virginia, 1931," (page 43), Sadie Kellam describes the house now standing as early colonial since the chimney on the south end of the building was built outside the house wall, a massive structure for cooking. She said, "Only a hundred years later when land owners became wealthy did they move cooking to a separate building staffed with slave.”
* A roadside marker in front of the Thoroughgood House cited a 1680 construction date by an Adam Thoroughgood relative. The marker was replaced with another one shortly before the May 18th, 2018 opening of the new Thoroughgood Education Center stating that house-2 was built about 1719.
Historians have found documents that should be attributed to the Manor House
*Our famous Old Donation Episcopal Church historical preservationist Alice Granbery Walter (1909-2003), found records substantiating that a brick house did exist and was occupied by Adam Thoroughgood’s widowed wife, first her second husband and then her third husband, her children and grandchildren. Of several records she found, the following two records in Book “B” 1646-1651/2 of Lower Norfolk County, Virginia Court provide an strong case that a brick house did exist well before the eighteenth century.
*Sarah Thoroughgood-Gookin contracted a brick mason, Mr. James Smyth, to complete the last brick wall left unfinished by her late husband Adam Thoroughgood who died 27 April 1640. On page 61, a 16 Dec 1647 debt that Sarah still owed to Mr. James Smyth for completing the last brick wall stated, i.e., “the estate of James Smyth..for covering part of her [Sarah Thoroughgood-Gookin-Yeardley’s] howse…petitioner desires order for the payment of same.” Apparently Smyth made his claim several years after he had completed the fourth wall.
*A record stated that in Oct 1651, Sarah’s husband Francis Yeardley (1620-1655) hired a bricklayer to make repairs to the house. Page 186a - “That WILLIAM EALE, brick layer... shall well and substantially plaster white lyme and wash over ye Dyninge Roome, ye Yellow roome; kitchinge; ye chamber over ye kitchinge and likewise mend and repair; wash out all the rest of the rooms; chambers in ye house at Linhaven.”
Conclusion and Recommendations:
* "The Brick Mortar May Reveal the True Date." Wood dating was used to re-date the Thoroughgood House to 1719, but a more accurate method, recently developed, is testing the mortar. The carbon dioxide contributing to binder formation during the set of a lime mortar reflects the atmospheric 14C content at the time of construction of a building. For this reason, the 14C dating of mortars is used with increasing frequencies in archaeological and architectural research, and this could help settle the argument over the date of the Thoroughgood House.
* In their report on page 57 JRIA suggested further research,i.e. "Given the significance of the Adam Thoroughgood House site, continuing archaeological research should be carefully considered....Another consideration should be the creation of an Archaeological Adisory Committee to review options and make recommendation for future reserch. A final recommendation is for a professional historian to write a comprehensive and detailed history of Adam Thoroughgood I and his decendats."
* The city of Virginia Beach would profit from a display in the new Thoroughgood Education Center presenting a discussion about the construction dates of the Thoroughgood House.
*Books should be avaible to the public in the Thoroughgood House library. There are three books the city has, one I have used for my above discussion, i.e., "The Archeologiccal Assessmnet of the Adam Thoroughgood House Site, Virginia Beach," May 2006 by Nicholas M. Lucckette. The other two are "The Hoggards of Poplar Hall, 1654-1986 and in Warwick & Princess Anne Counties, Virginia", 1988 by Alice Granbery Walter; and "The Thoroughgood House", July 2007 by W. Paul Treanor.
(7)
1649 - The Weblin House at 5588
Moore’s Pond Road (3.2 mi west near Lawson Hall) built by John Weblin Jr. when
he inherited the land (and possible house) from his father-in-law. The original
land grant of 750 acres was to Thomas Lambert in 1648. The Weblin name is from
Thomas Lambert’s daughter who married John Weblin. The Weblin House is of the "Virginia Style," dating to the 17th
century. Its solid brick walls are 12 inches thick, creating wide sills in the
interior. The masonry is Flemish bond and its massive chimney is English bond. Big
chimneys were typical of the period because settlers cooked inside and hadn't
yet moved cooking to exterior buildings. The original steep gable roof was
changed to a gambrel roof in the early 19th century as noted by the 60 degree old roof line on the chimney side. The house is currently
owned by the Petersen family.
“Virginia Beach, Then and Now,” by Amy
Hayes Castleberry, 2010, page 18
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/11/weblin-house-one-many-homes-tour-season
http://www.carolshouse.com/structures/weblinhouse
First picture of Rolleston is the right front corner of the house.
In the second picture above, the porch barely visible.
(8)
1650 - Rolleston (no longer in
existence) at 443 Kempsville Rd, Norfolk, VA. (5 miles west). The Chapel at Barry
Robinson now occupies part of the tract of Rolleston Hill. It was located on
the edge of what would eventually be called Newtown, situated on the northeast
corner of the I-64 and I-264 interchange just east of Woodlawn Memorial
Gardens. William Moseley I (1601-1655) built this sprawling Dutch- roofed
house, Greenwich Plantation, later called Rolleston Plantation by his
descendants. In 1649 he came to Virginia from Rotterdam, Holland with his wife
Suzanna, two sons (William II and Arthur), and a large quantity of family
jewels. As a Cavalier opposed to Oliver Cromwell, the jewels were all he was
able to get out of England when he fled to Holland. Trading jewels, primarily
to Adam Thoroughgood’s widow Sarah Thoroughgood-Gookin-Yeardley (1609 – 1657),
in exchange for livestock, William I slowly gained prominence. As Commissioner of Lower Norfolk County from
1649 to his death in 1655 he built a sprawling Dutch-roofed house, Greenwich
Plantation, later called Rolleston Plantation by his descendants. William’s son
William Moseley II (1635-1700)
married Mary Gookin (1642 - 1693), the daughter of Sarah
Thoroughgood-Gookin-Yeardley, her last child by her second husband Captain John
Gookin. William II became Commissioner for Lower Norfolk County. William
Moseley II’s son Edward Moseley (1661-1736) became a Colonel in
the County Militia, Justice of Princess Anne County, High Sheriff, and as
Lynnhaven Parish Church vestryman a member of the court that tried Grace
Sherwood. In 1697 he had the land around Rolleston established as the town of Newtown. Edward’s grand-son Edward Hack Moseley, Sr. (1717-1782) being loyal to King George
III enjoyed the social life of Virginia Governor Lord Dunmore right up until
1775 when the unpopular Lord Dunmore was forced out of Virginia in skirmishes
leading up to the Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783). He remained loyal to the
King throughout the Revolutionary War but was too old to take an active part in
the conflict and eventually returned to England. So prominent was he
at Old Donation that in 1767 he had a private Great Pew built where the pulpit
stands today causing the side door to be moved about eight feet from the end of
the long north wall to its present location. His son Col. Edward Hack Moseley Jr. (1743- 1814) following his father, was
a member of the House of Burgess, Clerk of Princess Anne County, and a
vestryman at Old Donation. He was a loyal patriot during the Revolutionary War which caused father and son to stand on opposite sides, but this obviously did not affect their
relationship. On Saturday, May 17th, 2014 a service and wreath-laying ceremony marked
a new gravestone, next to the broken off stone of Col Edward Hack Moseley JR, the oldest grave with
remains in our cemetery. Today Rolleston and Newtown are no more. Rolleston stood more than 200
years until it burned down sometime in the late 19th century. At the Kempsville
Pleasant Hall there is a pair of old wrought irons that once held the logs that
burned in Rolleston. And the family jewels that once belonged to William
Moseley I are scattered among Sarah Thoroughgood-Gookin-Yeardley’s heirs.
“Virginia Beach, Then and Now,” by Amy Hayes Castleberry, 2010, page
41.
"Newtown," http://virginiabeachhistory.org/newtown.html
(9)
1673 – Lawson Hall (no longer in
existence) at 5525 Lawson Hall Rd Virginia Beach, VA (3.7 mi west near Weblin
House) was built by Anthony Lawson (1650-1701). He came to VA from London and
was given a 490 acre estate in 1673 as headrights for providing passage to
indentured servants to work his estate. Lawson
practiced law and was justice of Princess Anne Country. His second wife was Mary
Gookin, daughter of Colonel John Gookin and Sarah Thoroughgood-Gookin-Yeardley
(1609 – 1657) widow of Adam Thoroughgood. When Anthony Lawson died, Mary
married William Moseley II (1635-1700). Their son Edward Moseley (1661-1736)
was a member of the court that tried Grace Sherwood and Edward Moseley’s great
grandson Col. Edward Hack Moseley (1740-1811) is buried in our cemetery.
There
is no record of his house, only the house built by his grandson Col. Anthony
Lawson (1729-1785). Like his grandfather, Anthony Lawson practiced law and was
a justice of Princess Anne County and lieutenant-colonel of the Princess Anne
militia. He was captured by the British and sent to East Florida. His house burned
down in the early 20th century and was rebuilt on its original
footprint, i.e., the house standing today known as Lawson Hall.
“Virginia Beach, Then and Now,” by Amy
Hayes Castleberry, 2010, page 17
(10) 1681 - The James and Grace Sherwood House (no longer in
existence), at Muddy Creek near the intersection of Pungo Ferry Road and
Princess Anne Road (21.3 mi south). The house stood for over 300 years until it
burned down in the 1990s. The property is now owned by the Federal Government
as part of Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Grace Sherwood’s father John White gave the Sherwood’s 50
acres of farm land when James Sherwood (1660 – 1701) married 20 year old Grace White (1660 – 1740) in April 1680 in the first Lynnhaven
Parish Church at Church Point. On his death in 1681 John White left them the
remainder of his 145 acres farm. The Sherwood’s had three sons - John, James,
and Richard, and one
daughter – Elizabeth (1675 – 1725), the oldest. In addition to
farming, Grace Sherwood grew her own herbs, which she used to heal both people
and animals. She also acted as a midwife. When James died in 1701, Grace
inherited his property. This early death of James left Grace without his
protection, ultimately resulting in a witch trial at Lynnhaven Parish Church No
2 (see above), ducking at Witch Duck Bay in the West Lynnhaven River and jail where
today’s church (church no.3) now stands. After release Grace gathered her three sons, paid back taxes
on the farm, and lived peacefully for the rest of her life. She never remarried.
Grace lies in an unmarked grave under some trees in a field on her farm. James
was buried in the Old Donation Cemetery, his tombstone (now lost). A plaque at
the entrance to the cemetery replaces his tombstone. Three hundred years later on July 10, 2006, the 300th
anniversary of Sherwood's conviction as a witch, Governor Tim Kaine restored
her good name, recognizing that her case was a miscarriage of justice. A statue
depicting her was erected near Sentara Bayside Hospital on Independence
Boulevard in Virginia Beach, and Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf declared
July 10th Grace Sherwood Day. Not until eight
years later on July 10th 2014 did Old Donation Church officially recognize the
wrong done to poor Grace by blessing of a stone honoring Grace, a stone
placed in the church herb garden, fitting for one who used her herbs to heal
the sick.
James Sherwood died at the age of 42 in August of 1701 before Grace was brought to trial in the witchcraft case. According to the second reference below James was buried in the Old Donation Church cemetery in today's Virginia Beach, but due to two building projects over the years, it's location has been lost.Those building projects were most likely the demolition of the jail and courthouse in 1733 and construction of the present church which opened in 1736. Historians generally say James was most likely buried on his farm, but since he was in and out of court defending his wife over witchery, burial in the church cemetery next to the courthouse is another possibilty. In the Virginian Pilot, June 1, 1941, Rogers Dey Whichard published what was on the James Sherwood gravestone and said he was buried in the Old Donation Church cemetery. While his article was wrtten in poetic style, this could be correct. Was that stone waiting for James, a husband that some wanted to see put out of the way so his wife could be ducted in the river, which could not have happened if James stood in the way?
Present day location where Fairfield Manor once stood 5298 W Valleyside Ct
(just north of the Fairfield Shopping Center and 20 miles east up the Elizabeth River)
Walke Graveyard near the site of the old Fairfield Manor House
(11) 1697 - Fairfield Manor (no longer in existence and picture/sketch was never found) was to the north of 643 E Fox Grove Ct, Virginia Beach, VA 23464 (just north of Fairfield Shopping Center) (4.8 miles south). The house was purchased by Col Thomas I’s (1642-1694) executors in 1697 for his son Col Anthony I (1692-1768). A construction date is not known but was probably sometime in the 169os.
Colonel Thomas Walke I (1642 – 1694) was an immigrant from British-ruled Barbados. He made his fortune shipping goods to Barbados from Hampton Roads and slaves back to Hampton Roads from Barbados. He held colonial distinction and was commissioned a colonel by the Governor of Virginia. In his later life he married Mary Lawson in 1690, also an emigrate from Barbados. Dying only four years after his marriage, he left three children, Thomas II or Jr. (1691-1723), Anthony I (1692- 1768), and Mary. Four years after Thomas I's death, his executors in 1698 purchased land for the construction of two homes for Walke’s children, i.e., the 1759 Upper Wolfsnare House (see house no. 19 below) and the 1782 Walke Manor House (see house no. 24 below). The upper Wolfsnare house is the only on of the three still standing.
In 1853 Mr. Forrest described the style of architecture of the Fairfield Manor House. “This Dutch roof relic of antiquity is …resisting still the effects of time. The walls are more than four feet thick for some distance above the ground. The interior walls and ceilings are heavily wainscoted with black walnut, the passage is exceedingly spacious, and there are other architectural curiosities about it which form a striking contrast to the present style of building.”
In 1887, Henry Walke, Rear Admiral, U.S.N. in the "Private Record of The Walke Family," described the plantation. “Fairfield was an ‘almost baronial establishment’ with liveried black servants, blacksmiths, wagon-makers, saddlers, and tradesmen imported from England."
Fairfield Manor was destroyed by fire in March 1865, but the name is perpetuated by a residential community developed on the site.
The Walkes played a critical roll in Lynnhaven Parish (now Old Donation). Thomas Walke I (1642-1694) was one of the first vestrymen and for the next 200 years the Walkes were dominant in the affairs of the church. His son Col Anthony Walke I (1690-1768) was a church warden and is noted for putting a motion before the Vestry March 2, 1736, “that the old church [Church 2] would be a convenient place to make a public school for instructing children in learning and for no other use or purpose whatsoever.” Anthony I’s son, Col. Anthony II (1726-1779) was greatly attached to Lynnhaven Parish as a vestryman for many years making large contributions that help build our present church which opened in 1736.
Anthony II’s son Reverend Anthony Walke III (1755-1814) presided as rector over Lynnhaven Parish for many years without a salary (from 1788 to 1800 and again from 1812 to 1813). Not only was he noted for delivering sermons with a captivating mild-mannered voice, but a more picturesque side of him was his love of fox and deer hunting where he always kept his horse Silverheels tethered to the church front door in case he heard hunting horns. Before he became a priest, along with his distant cousin Thomas Walke IV (1760 – 1797), were chosen to represent Princess Anne County at the 1788 Virginia Constitutional Convention.
Anne Parks (1917-2002) the eight-generation descendent of Col Thomas I (1642-1694), along with members of the Princess Anne Garden Club moved ten family grave stones from the old Fairfield Walke Cemetery and one from Ferry Farm, William Walke (1762-1795), both sites found in deplorable condition. One of the stones moved from Fairfield was so weathered that the inscription could not be read, and Anne recorded just “Walke” in the record book. Because of the size of the stone Walke Historian Elizabeth Vogt in Sep 2014 began piecing together facts that were conclusive in discovering that this stone was that of the famous Reverend Anthony Walke III (1755-1814). A plaque was attached to the stone and the Reverend Fred Poteet dedicated it.
Anne Parks (1917-2002), is the eighth-generation descendant of the first Thomas Walke (1642-1694) to arrive in Virginia Beach, i.e., 1-Diana (1887-1975), 2-Richard (1840-1901), 3-Richard (1812-1871), 4-Wiiliam (1762-1795), 6-Anthony II (1726-1779), 7-Anthony I (1692-1768), 8-Thomas I (1642-1694).
The Walke Genealogy - “#” marks grave numbers in the Old Donation Church Cemetery.
Col Thomas I (1642-1694) had two son, Thomas II (1691-1723) and #15Col Anthony I (1692-1768).
*Thomas II (1691-1723)’s son was Thomas III (1720-1761) who built Upper Wolfsnare. Thomas III’s son was Thomas IV (1760-1797).
* #15Col Anthony I and Anne Lee’s second son was Col Anthony II (1726-1779) who married twice.
- Anthony II first married Mary. Their only child was #13William (1762-1795) who built the Walke Manor in 1782.
-Anthony II and his second wife Jane had #14 Rev Anthony III (1755-1814) who had six children. Of note is his sixth child #25David (1800-1854). Another of Rev Anthony’s children was #21Pvt Anthony who along with his second wife Anne Livingston had six children, all of their graves moved from Fairfield to Old Donation, i.e., #18Sarah Livingston Walke (Apr 1819 - Sep 26, 1819), #19Anne Tabitha (Jun 1817 - Aug 4th, 1837), #20Anthony (Apr 1812 - Jan 2, 1833), #23Anne T. Walke – Sept 30, 1817, #22(infant), #24 (only the top line distinguishable, i.e. "Aged 10 Years.").
#22Ann Tabetha Walke - (Aug 1841 - Oct 3, 1842) was the infant granddaughter of Pvt. Anthony & Anne; daughter of Anthony II and Angelina.
References:
*"
Old Fairfield House to
Be Demolished," by Helen Crist, “
Fairfield itself came to a tragic end one windy
March day, perhaps in 1865, when it burned
to the ground
as a spark from the chimney
ignited the roof.”
*“
Virginia Beach, Then and Now,” by Amy Hayes Castleberry, 2010, page 49
“Gleanings on Walke Family Homes,” by Calvert Walke Tazewell, 1988 http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ferry/walkehou.txt
(12) 1699 - The
Hermitage at 4200 Hermitage Road on Adam Thoroughgood’s 5,350 acre Grand Patent
sits south-southwest across the Thoroughgood inlet and Lake Charles from the
Adam Thoroughgood House. This is a charming one-and-a-half-story farmhouse
constructed in three stages from 1699 to 1940. The original 1699 house is on
the left, one of the last traditional hall-and-parlor seventeenth century
cottages built consisting of two rooms downstairs and a room under the roof
upstairs. The current owners are John and Marianne Litel. The Hermitage
was built c.1699 as claimed by Amy Hayes Castleberry, in her book, “Then and Now, Virginia Beach” and Marc
Davis in his Mar 20, 2008 Virginian Pilot article, “Hermitage House – The Other One - Makes Historic List,” Louisa Venable Kyle claims either John Thoroughgood or Adam Thoroughgood III built the house.
*The case for Lt. Col. Adam III Thoroughgood (1662 –
1709) (Adam4
Thorowgood (III)(Lt. Col.), Adam3, Adam2, William1) He
married Mary Sayer before July 1700 which gives a plausible rationale to build
a house for his bride Mary Sayer.
*The case for John Thoroughgood (c. 1682 – c.1735) It is unlikely he built the Hermitage in 1699
at the young age of 17 in 1699.
*The case for Francis Thorowgood (1665
– 1717). He was 35 in 1699.
Adam Thorowgood(II)(Lt. Col.) and Frances Yeardley had the
following child:
Francis Thorowgood and Anne
Brittingham had the following child:
Francis Thorowgood (Jr.) (ca.1705 - February 14, 1740)
Francis Thorowgood(Jr.) and Amy Lovett had the following child:
Col Adam Thorowgood (April 16, 1736 – ca. 1790) - Yorktown battle
patriot
Reference:
Today, the Lynnhaven House: In 1950 called the Boush House (photo/\)
(13) *1650s - The Lynnhaven House at 4405 Wishard Road (1 mi north)
Time line:
For many years, the house was referred to as the Wishard House or the Boush House.
*Adam Thorowgood II first owned the land and sold it to Saville Gaskin.
*Saville Gaskin received a patent of an aditional 100 acres from Governor Berkeley. He deeded it with an additional 180 acres to William Hodge.
William Richerson, shipwright of London, bought a parcell of the land about 1650 and most likely was the original builder of the house as shown by the ship's lap floor, decorative pendants, and a mantel with distinctive bolection moldings. In the book by Sadie Scott Kellam and V. Hope Kellam, Old Houses in Princess Anne, 1931, on page 56, Kellam states, “in 1700 the house is referred to as ‘the old house.’
James Wishard, the elder, in 1673 purchased the land in 1673.
*The Hodge family were the next owners, deeding it to Francis Thelaball in 1721. Mr. Thelaball and his wife are credited with building the current house known as The Lynnhaven House. Instead Mr. Thelaball found the existing house in a delapidated state and renovated it.
Francis was not a wealthy plantion owner as were many of his neighbors. Wanting to impress them he claimed he built the house.
In 1784 the prpoerty was deeded to Frederick Boush, and in 1859 deeded to Geo. & Joseph Smith.
*1861-1922: The house and property went through seven changes of ownership.
*1923-1971: the Braightwell family deeded the house and 45 acres to the Oliver family.
*1971: the Olivers bequeathed the property to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities who administers the property today as a historic house museum where the public may participate in special programs and receive guided tours.
The house, though considerably altered, still shows its age in its English bond construction throughout. As can be seen from the accompanying photograph, the roof was originally sharpangled, and an older picture showed three dormer windows piercing it across the front. The exteriors have steep gable roofs, massive T-shaped chimneys with steep tiled splays and belt courses, English bond brickwork with brick jack arches over the windows, and brick corbels at either end of the eaves.
The two room hall-and-parlor layout is a fine example of a seventeenth century colonial home, similar in style and size to the Thoroughgood House, both that do not fit architecturally into the Georgian style larger homes constructed in the prosperous eighteenth-century Golden Age.
The Boush Family Cemetery sits in a wooded area to the south of the house. There are four vaults which replaced the original ones as they had decayed over the years and were moved to a safe place.
*Eliza J. S. Walke (1802-1884)
*William. F. W. Boush (1793-1818)
*Revolutionary Patriot William Boush (1759 – 1834)
*Maxmillian Boush II (1660 – 1728), the most famous Boush. In 1702 he married Mary Bennett (1670 – 1735). In 1706 he was the prosecuting attorney against Grace Sherwood. In 1711 he gave a silver paten (a small plate used to hold Eucharistic bread) which bears his coat of arms to Lynnhaven Parish Church. From 1710 to 1727 he represented Princess Anne County in the House of Burgesses.
References:
* “Wishart-Boush House,” by the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission, National Register of Historic Places, June 3, 1969
* “Old Houses in Princess Anne Virginia,” by Sadie Scott Kellam and V. Hope Kellam, page 56, 1958
* “The History of Lower Tidewater Virginia,” by Rogers Dey Wishard, Volume 1, pages 270-271, 1959
* “The Architecture of the Old South, the Medieval Style, 1585-1850,” by Henry Chandlee Forman, 1948
*“The History of Lower Tidewater Virginia,” by Roger Dey Whichard. Volume I, 1959
(14)
*1805 - The Francis Land House at
3131 Virginia Beach Boulevard (4.9 miles southeast). The Land family is one of the several notable families important to Lynnhaven Parish and to local government. The Francis Land house standing today was built around 1805 by Francis Moseley Land VI (1780-1819), but his descendants before him lived on the same estate and had houses built on top of the older ones. A brick in the cellar has the date 1732 inscribed on its surface, the date of an earlier house was most likely built by Francis Moseley Land VI's father, Francis Land V. Francis VI probably built his house 73 years later on top of the old Francis Land V house. As plantation owners became wealthy, they built better homes over top of the old ones.
Francis Land I (1604 - 1657) was the first Land to arrive in Virginia Beach about 1638. Along with Thomas Walk, he brought slaves to work the lucrative tobacco fields. By 1657 Francis had acquired 1,020 acres of land adjacent to Thomas Keeling’s estate. He used flat bottom canoes to transport goods from Pine Tree Branch to the Chesapeake Bay via the Lynnhaven River or via the Intracoastal waterway. Today Pine Tree Branch is overgrown with weeds, but the waterways in Princes Anne County then were much wider and deeper than they are today. On 26 May 1647 Francis was nominated by the Court to serve as Churchwarden for Lynnhaven Parish Church. By the mid-18th century, the plantation had around 20 slaves, typical for the tobacco plantations in the area.
The current Georgian style home has exterior walls of double depth Flemish bond brickwork and heart-of-pine floors. Extensive alterations and modifications were made along the way to mask its true original construction date and style, and because of the termite problem, the original wood was probably replaced long ago.
*Francis Land I’s children carried the name Frances right up through Francis Moseley Land VI. He had 3 wives. In 1638 he married Frances then in 1649 Janice Rutherford, and in 1655 his 3rd Anne Phillips. Francis and Janice Rutherford had two sons, Renatus (?-?) and Francis II (1643-1692).
*Francis Land II (1643-1692) married Katherine Goddard. They had at least 1 son and 1 daughter, Francis Land III (1662–1736) and Mary (1664–?)
*Francis Land III (1662–1736) was a member of the House of Burgesses. His son was Francis Thoroughgood Land (IV).
*Francis Land IV (?-1760) was a member of the vestry at Eastern Shore Chapel. He had a son, Francis Land V who died around 1785.
*Francis Land V (?-1785). His son was Francis Moseley Land (VI) who died in 1819.
*Francis Moseley Land VI (1780-1819). In 1805 he built the Francis Land House standing today. Francis and his family
lived there until Francis died in 1819. He and his wife had two daughters who held
onto the land until about 1850 when it was sold outside their family.
The City
of Virginia Beach purchased the house and land in 1975 and in 1986 started
operating it as a historic house museum. The manicured grounds include herb,
vegetable, flax, formal, and "pleasure" gardens, as well as a history
park which includes a constructed one-tenth mile nature trail in a wooded
wetland with interpretive sign exhibits.
References: “Virginia Beach, Then and Now,” by Amy
Hayes Castleberry, 2010, page 52
http://1bob9.blogspot.com/2009/06/old-donation-history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Land_House
"The War Between the States," by Kenneth Harris, 2010, page 11
(16) Circa 1730 -
Green
Hill Plantation at 1721 Lovetts Pond Lane (8.8 miles east). The first Thomas Lovett came to
Lynnhaven Parish in 1663, and documents show that as "
under sheriff" Thomas presented the Court with names of Quakers who had been at a meeting contrary to
the law, which forbade the assembly of
Quakers. The Green Hill property passed through several families during the seventeenth century before ending with Robert Bond in 1698-99, his share being reduced to a mere 95 acres.About 1714, John Lovett acquired the property, then 250 acres. Green Hill Plantation, was built by
Lancaster Lovett prior to 1738. John
Lovett belonged to one of several prominent founding families of early Princess
Anne County. Various member of the Lovett family married into the Kempe,
Keeling, Pallet, and Thorowgood families, and were generally active in the
leadership of the local community. Thomas Lovett willed the house to his eldest
son Thomas, and the remainder of the estate to his sons Randolph and Reuben. Evidently,
there was some sort of family quarrel over the division of the property and Reuben
changed the spelling of his name to "
Lovitt." The Lovett family retained
ownership of the property until 1831 when the property passed to the Keeling
family. The estate then passed through several more families before being
acquired by Margarette Hanes Old (of the Hanes clothing company) and her husband
W.T. Old. The Olds oversaw the addition of the two wings to the house in 1954
along with a complete restoration overseen by prominent regional architect
Finlay Forbes Ferguson, Jr. Ferguson , a participant in the Colonial
Williamsburg’s restoration from 1931-43. Green Hill Plantation is a relatively rare surviving example of an
eighteenth century Georgian/Federal Lynnhaven Parish style home, and is a good
example of the evolution of the once ubiquitous regional early American
hall-and-parlor house representing its uninterrupted role as one of the most
important dwellings in old Virginia Beach. Different owners have enlarged and
improved the house, making it a magnificent with its beautiful setting
overlooking Broad Bay. This Georgian
House originally consisted of four rooms, two up and two down, each off a
central hallway, and a large cellar. The rooms on both the first and second
floors have high ceilings, decorative cornices, deeply recessed windows, and
attractive mantels. Both of the halls and the upper part of the stairway have
been altered. The brick wall around the chimney has also been redone. A whole
new structure of rafters was installed to support a new gable roof, thus
altering the pitch of the roof. Near the
roof line on each side of the chimney, under both gables, are little round windows which are not usually
found in Georgian style homes. Yet all of these changes and additions have been
carefully done to retain the flavor and charm of this two story house with
double chimneys on the west side and one chimney on the east.
“Bricks and Mortar: What's Left In Old Princess Anne County and New Virginia Beach," edited and copyrighted in 1993 by C.W. Tazewell.
"National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Green Hill, 1721 Lovetts Pond Lane, Va Beach," http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Cities/VirginiaBeach/134-0015_GreenHill_2012_NRHP_revised%20draft.pdf
“Virginia Beach, Then and Now,” by Amy Hayes Castleberry, 2010, page
29 and 30. http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Cities/VirginiaBeach/134-0015_GreenHill_2012_NRHP_revised%20draft.pdf
(17) 1751 Summerville Plantation (1751-1905) - From the middle 18th century through the
Civil War years the Thalia neighborhood was home to a wealthy Norfolk merchant, George McIntosh (1768-1863) who lived at his summer home the Summerville Plantation.
The manor house required sixteen slaves to work the plantation which initially took
up most of the Thalia neighborhood. In addition to being the future site of the
famous Steinhilber's Restaurant at today’s 653 Thalia Rd, the plantation helped
host the wedding of the 19th century. Standing on his balcony George looked out many evenings to see the beautify Elizabeth Walke who lived just on the other side of the Lynnhaven River with her uncle, the famous Rev. Anthony Walke, in the Walke Manor House. During their courtship, George and Elizabeth
mingled at eloquent soirees taking week-long excursions to the Cape
Henry bay-shore. Slaves came ahead with tents, furniture and refreshments. The 1800 wedding was a most grand affair
at the small Lynnhaven Parish Church with days of celebration at their
respective estates. After the wedding sixteen-year-old Elizabeth moved
in with thirty-two-year-old
George at Summerville just on the other side of the river. The below 17th
century map shows the relatively close location of the two estates (4) and (5). See house (25) below for the Ferry Farm Plantation House. Note the branch called "Witch Duck Bay." In that Grace Sherwood was "ducked" in the river in 1706, the map is either an eighteenth century map or various notions were made to a seventeenth century map.
After the Walke Manor House burned down in 1828 George McIntosh purchased the land and had slaves build the Ferry Farm House (the house that stands today) in 1830. It was a smaller house than the grand Walke Manor House.
See house no. (25) below.
References:
"What’s in a name? - Thalia in Virginia Beach," by Margaret Matray, The Virginian-Pilot, Feb 18, 2013
https://pilotonline.com/news/local/history/article_99faacb9-245f-5287-8367-6a5687eed158.html
(17a) 1692 -
Taylor / Dickson - 4449 North Witchduck Rd - Ebenezer Taylor sold two acres of his land for the Lynnhaven Parish / Old Donation Episcopal second church. Later the Reverend Robert Dickson (1716-1777) bought several hundred acers (called Donation Farm) near and around the church. The church was situated on the West Branch of the Lynnhaven River at the end of Cattail Creek (Cattayle Branch on old maps) in a location adjacent to Ferry Plantation known as Church Quarter. In his will Reverend Dickson (1716-1777) placed his farm,“
Donation Farm” to be used by the church to convert their public boys' school to a private one. His land was between the Boush Estate (site of the Lynnhaven House) and the Walke Estate (site of the Ferry Plantation House).
(18) 1752 - John Biddle House on Kings Grant Road built in 1752 for John Biddle (6.4 miles east). One of his descendants, William Etheridge Biddle (1856-1915) is honored on a wall memorial plaque in the church for working with the Reverend Alfriend during the restoration period (1912-1915). William Biddle is buried in our historic cemetery. “Virginia Beach, Then and Now,” by Amy Hayes Castleberry, 2010, page 23
http://cdm16450.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15419coll8/id/84/rec/15
(19) *1759 - The Upper Wolfsnare House (first called the Brick House) at 2040
Potters Road (8.5 miles east) was built between 1759 and 1762 by Thomas Walke
III (1720 – 1761) the first son of Thomas Walke II and the first Walke to leave
Fairfield Manor House and build on large land holdings acquired by the
Walkes. Of the three noted Walke
historic homes (Fairfield Manor and Ferry Plantation), only Upper Wolfsnare
stands today. His son Col. Thomas Walke IV (1760-1797) (born shortly before his
father's death) inherited the house. Thomas Walke IV and Reverend Anthony Walke
(1755 - 1814) were chosen to represent Princess Anne County at the 1788
Virginia Constitutional Convention. Their lineage goes back to the first Walke
to settle in Virginia, Colonel Thomas Walke I (1642 – 1694) an immigrant from
British-ruled Barbados, Rev. Walke’s great-grandfather and Thomas’s grandfather.
Read the story of how they, along with
James Madison, helped to save the Constitution @
“The Golden Age of Lynnhaven Parish Church” @
(20) 1694 & 1764 - Pembroke Manor House on
Constitution Drive (just off Independence Blvd) (1.1 mile south). The house was built on acreage given by the King of England to Rev. Jonathan Saunders in 1694. Saunders provided religious leadership for the growing Lynnhaven Parish Church from 1695 to 1700. Much later, the manor house (as pictured above) was built by slave labor in 1764 by Rev. Jonathan Saunders' grandson Captain Jonathan Saunders I (1726 – 1765). His son Captain John Saunders II (1754 - 1834) chose to side with the British, and as a result in 1779 he was called before the Princess Anne County Safety
Committee, declared a British subject, and had Pembroke Manor confiscated. The original property was 800 acres which included the land where Town Center was developed. The
grave of Captain John Saunders I was moved from Pembroke Manor without remains
to the Old Donation Cemetery and is the oldest grave site in our cemetery. In Aug 2023, Dr. Heather Brookshire bought the house and will use it for her specialized veterinary practice, a healing practice for ophthalmic animal care. The manor house sold for $820,000.
References:
“Virginia Beach, Then and Now" by Amy Hayes Castleberry, 2010, page 22
"Virginia Beach’s Pembroke Manor House has a new owner: A veterinarian who loves historic charm." - The Virginian Pilot, August 30th 2023
(21)
1764 -
Poplar Hall on Broad Creek at
the intersection of Poplar Hall Drive and Stuart Circle, Norfolk (6.4 miles
west), built by Captain Thurmer Hoggard (1728 - 1779) in 1764 and home of his
great-grandson Thurmer Hoggard IV (1819-1902) who came to save the burned-out
Old Donation Church in 1882. Thurmer Hoggard IV was an influential citizen who had
a shipbuilding business on Broad Creek, believed to be the first navy yard in
America. He worshiped at Old Donation until services ended around 1844 and then
switched to Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Kempsville. In 1882 he came to rescue
the burned out Old Donation Church by holding annual pilgrimages to the open
shell of Old Donation so the county could not take possession of the land. He
was the only living Episcopalian who had worshipped at Old Donation before it
burned. After
Hoggard’s death in 1902 his son, Captain Thurmer Harding Hoggard V, a
Confederate veteran, and two daughters Mary and Fannie Hoggard continued annual
services at Old Donation. Thurmer Hoggard not only saved the church but also
the vestry records which he handed to Judge White, who in turn handed them to the
Richmond Court House. They were later edited and published by George Carrington
Mason in 1949. Malcolm Higgins located these two vestry books (1723 – 1911) in
the Library of Virginia (the official Commonwealth of Virginia depository) in
Richmond and had the records photocopied. In a cavity within the cornerstone of
Donation Church, there is a time capsule, placed there in 1916, containing
short sketches prepared by Thurmer. What is said on these documents remains
unknown although some of his writings and
poetry are maintained in the Old Donation Historical Library. “Virginia Beach, Then and Now,” by Amy
Hayes Castleberry, 2010, page 39.
(22) 1791 - The Taylor -Whittle House at 227 W. Freemason St. was
built in 1791 by James Taylor and John Cowper on the land acquired from George
Purdie. The house is famous for notable Taylor owners and their relatives who
lived there. English immigrant Richard Taylor (1771-1827) and early member of Lynnhaven Parish Church purchased the house in 1803. His famous grandson lived
there. He was Lieutenant Colonel Walter Herron Taylor (1838 – 1916), an aide to
General Robert E. Lee during the American Civil War and later Senator in the
Virginia General Assembly. Other notable residents included Captain Richard
Lucien Page who accompanied Commodore Perry on his historic voyage to open up
trade with Japan in 1854. It was the birthplace of and resident William Conway
Whittle who was executive officer and navigator of the Confederate blockade
runner CSS Shenandoah, the last major Confederate cruiser to set sail. It remained in the ownership of Taylor descendants
being passed down via the Taylor female line until 1972 when it was donated to
the city and immediately placed on the National Register of Historic Places to
preserve it, but in 2011 the 5,000 square-foot house was deemed uninhabitable
in need of $2 million in repairs and renovations. The city currently is in the process of
reviewing requests to save the house since it stands as one of very few
pre-1800 buildings not burned down by the British during the War of 1812. Richard Taylor, Old Donation Church member writes on Nov 6,
2015, “My Ancestor James Taylor I arrived
here in Tidewater in 1635. He worshiped
at Lynnhaven Parish prior to moving up country to Orange VA area. He died in 1698. His son, James II built Bloomsbury in 1722 (see
Knights of The Golden Horseshoe). The
James Taylor who built Taylor-Whittle House in 1791 is a cousin of my James
Taylor. James Taylor (4), my ancestor, Co-owned Taylor-Whittle House with John Cowper (pronounced Cooper) until sold to Richard Taylor in 1803. To be precise, 15 December 1802 for $9400. The Taylor-Whittle James was
born over 100 years later. Taylor-Whittle
James and wife Sarah were Episcopal. Walter
Taylor, R.E. Lee's Chief of Staff, was born in Taylor-Whittle House. Dr. Taylor is related to the Taylor-Whittle gang,
who was an early worshiper.
by Lia Russell -The Virginian-Pilot © July 6, 2014
(23) *1793 - Whitehurst-Buffington House designated as one of the
50 most historically significant structures in Virginia Beach was built in 1793.
A year after the first lighthouse was
built at Cape Henry the Whitehurst family built their farmhouse. The original
house included one room downstairs and a sleeping loft upstairs. The gambrel
roof in front and the long sloping roof in the back are indicative of the
“saltbox” design that was popular during the early Federal period. Two large
chimneys bracket the house on either end. The family enlarged the house over
time. In 1820, Daniel Whitehurst, appointed as a Commissioner, authorized the
building of a new courthouse and jail on property near his farm. Today, the
Virginia Beach Courthouse sits across the street from the Whitehurst-Buffington
House. The Whitehurst Farm was also home
to James Howard Whitehurst, who entered the Virginia Military Institute as a
cadet in 1860. In 1862, he joined the 16th Virginia Regiment of the Confederate
Army. He was wounded at Malvern Hill in May 1862, recovered, and returned to
active duty until he was wounded a second time at Spotsylvania in 1864. He was
subsequently captured in April 1865. His tombstone remains on the
property. In 1940, the Whitehurst family
sold the farm to George W. Bratten, who replaced the clapboard siding with
brick and added the kitchen. In 1953, the Bratten family sold the farm to James
(Jay) W. Buffington, who maintained the property until 1986. Mrs. Webster
Whitehurst, Mamie Whitehurst, and Samuel Whitehurst were among the 46 members
of the re-built Old Donation Episcopal Church in 1916. “Whitehurst” was
a family Alice Granbery Walter (1909 – 2003) traced which is on file in
the Sargeant Memorial Collection at the Norfolk Slover Library.
(24) 1782 - The Walke Manor House (1st Ferry Plantation House) built in 1782, destroyed by fire in 1828.
1500’s - The land on which the Ferry
Plantation House now sits (at today’s 4136 Cheswick Lane) was initially cleared
by local Indians in the 16th century. Many
of their artifacts have been found on the site.
1638 - The land was given the name
Ferry Farm when Adam Thoroughgood (1604-1640) started a ferry service. A skiff traveled up and down the Lynnhaven River to
eleven locations, one being a stop at Ferry Farm where no house stood, just a
dirt road. Saville Gaskin, the ferry operator,
was summoned by cannon fire. The ferry carried everything from goods to people
and animals.
1719 - The property has deed
citations dating from 1719. Its owners
bore family names tied to local history over the next two and a half centuries:
Smythe, Walke, Martin, Dye, Hudgins and Howren.
1735 - The third Princess Anne
County courthouse, the first brick courthouse in the county, was built in 1735 on
this site, complete with stocks and pillory and was in existence until 1782 when
the Walke Mansion was built.
1782 - The 1st Ferry Farm House
(Walke Manor House) was built by William Walke (1762-1795) in 1782 for his half
brother Reverend Anthony Walke (1755 – 1814), the famous Lynnhaven Parish preacher
who divided his time between preaching and the hunt. William was the great-grandson of Colonel
Thomas Walke I (1642 – 1694) the first Walke to move into the area as an
immigrant from British-ruled Barbados. Also living in the Walke Manor House
were some of William's children to include Elizabeth Mason Walke
(1784-1855). The first “Walke house - Fairfield” was built
about 1720, twenty-five years after Colonel Thomas Walke I died, by his son Thomas
Walke II (1691 – 1723). The second “Walke house,” Upper Wolfsnare was built
around 1760 by Thomas Walke III (1720 – 1761) the first Walke to leave the Fairfield
Manor House. The third “Walke house,” Walke
Manor was the largest of the three and constructed in a more modern English
style than Fairfield Manor. It was the largest house in the area until it burned
down in 1828. Today only Upper Wolfsnare stands.
1828 - After Rev. Walke died, David
Meade Walke (1800 – 1854), the 6th child of Rev Walke, used the Walke Manor
House for gambling parties. At one of them, in 1828, a drunken guest tipped
over an oil lamp and burned the plantation to the ground.
(25) *1830 - The Ferry Plantation House. After the Walke Manor House (Ferry Farm House No1) burned down in 1828 George McIntosh purchased the land and had slaves build the Ferry Farm House (the house that
stands today) in 1830. It was a smaller house than the grand Walke Manor House.
The house had 10 rooms with
heart-of-pine flooring and several original features. The rear of the home faced
the western branch of the Lynnhaven River, and the southeast wing of the house
was joined to an early kitchen out building. The exterior was originally
covered with oyster stucco that was removed in the late 1980s when the masonry
was re-pointed. The southeast wing
predated the main portion which was part of the old Walke Manor House. George gave
the home to one of his five sons, 17 year old Captain Charles Fleming McIntosh
(1813-1862), USN and CSN.
1850 - The northwest frame wing was
added to expand the home to include a parlor on the first floor and a bedroom
on the second floor.
1896 - Charles Mitchell Barnett (1869
- 1940) and his wife purchased Ferry Farm in 1896. Barnett was in the shipping and oyster
business and shipped the famous Lynnhaven Oysters all over, including to New
York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel and Grand Central Station. Though his New York
connection, Old Donation Church was able to obtain a $7,000 loan from a New
York bank for the reconstruction of the burned-out church.
1909 - One of many Oyster Roasts held by Charles and Stella Barnett at their Ferry Farm Plantation Home facing the Lynnhaven River.
Barnett and his wife
Stella Barnett held oyster roasts for church members at their home on tables
set up near the Lynnhaven River. In 1900 Chrales constructed a new landside porch,
the first alteration to the house since 1850.
In Oct 1912 his wife Stella died from toadstool poisoning. He lived on in the house until his death adding
modem conveniences such as plumbing and electricity in the 1930s .
1950’s - Sometime in the 1950’s the house was sold to James
Carey Hudgins (1878 – 1965) who reconstructed both porches. His daughter, Ethel
Virginia Hudgin Howren (1905 – 1983) lived in it until a few years before she
died in 1983. After her death, her son James Howren in 1986 sold it and the
rest of his mother's 33-acre estate to two developers for about $3.5
million. He stipulated in the sale that
the Ferry House not be demolished or used as a dwelling. The sale was prompted by changes in the
federal tax law for residential zoning development. Preservation of the house was the topic of debate
when developers sought City Council's approval for the Old Donation Farm
subdivision. The council made, as a condition of the development, that the
Ferry Farm House be under a long-term use and maintenance plan and that four
acres of open space around the house be declared a city historical and cultural
district. In 1989 homes encircling the
Ferry Plantation House on Cheswick Lane began popping up.
1994 – The house last traded owners
in 1994, when it was purchased by investors who tried to sell it a year later,
but the deal fell through when in the Virginia Beach City Council brought up
the 1986 deed restrictions stating the Ferry Farm House could not be used as a private
residence. The investors, known as Hickory Properties, agreed to deed house to the city in exchange for two lots. With a clear title, the city turned
the house over to the Friends of the Ferry Plantation House Inc. in June 1996
who began renovating the house in partnership with the city. The Friends had organized when a group of
people interested in Virginia Beach history became alarmed about the perilous
legal state of Ferry Farm House. In the past, the house had been known as “Ferry Farm,” but Friends chose to use
the name “Ferry Plantation” to
distinguish it from another historic Ferry Farm that was George Washington’s
birthplace. The Friends membership
included Councilwoman Henley, Jo Howren, and Robert Little, all interested in
preservation of the house and grounds. The Friends coordinated the restoration,
operation, maintenance, and expenditures.
2016 - Mrs. Belinda Nash (October 27, 1946 - February 16, 2016), the leading house docent for many years was the heart and soul of the house.
The Ferry Plantation House is
open for tours Tuesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays 10 am – 2 pm.
References: “The Rescue and Preservation of Ferry,” 1996
“Farm Land Gives Way To Luxury Dwellings,”" Virginian
Pilot Jun 18, 1988 p. D1 "
“Gleanings on Walke
Family Homes,” by Calvert Walke Tazewell, 1988
“Ferry Plantation House,” U.S. Department of the Interior, National
Register of Historic Places,
Section 8,
Page 6 –
“The History of
Eastern Shore Chapel,” p. 16, by Louisa Kyle
“Farm Land Gives Way
To Luxury Dwellings" Virginian Pilot 6/18/1988 p. D1
“Ferry Plantation House,” from Wikipedia
“Colonial Connections, Ferry Plantation House,”
(26)
1769 - Pleasant Hall at 5184
Princess Anne Rd., Virginia Beach in Kempsville (5 miles south). Pleasant Hall
was built as a private residence by George Logan in 1769. Peter Singleton I grew
up here and left the house to his son Isaac Singleton and wife Suzanna (Sukey)
Thoroughgood Singleton, parents of Peter Singleton II who built Bayville. Currently
Pleasant Hall is owned by Kempsville Baptist Church.
References: “Virginia Beach, Then and Now,” by Amy Hayes Castleberry, 2010, page
48.
(27)
1791 - The Thomas Murray House at 3425
S. Crestline Dr. (7.2 miles west) located on Kings Creek and was one of four
homes constructed on the Murray flax plantation. It was built by Isaac Murray
for his son Thomas. The house is a Georgian style home with a gambrel roof and
brick laid in Flemish bond. The home stands two stories with a full cellar. The
interior of the home features a wide central hall and fireplaces in the master
bedroom, kitchen, living room, dining room and cellar. The original heart pine
flooring with random width planks has been retained throughout the home. The
mantels appear to be original and have the same design or similar ones to the
mantels in Isaac Murray's manor house. Reference: http://www.vbgov.com/government/departments/planning/boards-commissions-committees/Pages/VB%20Historical%20Register/Thomas-Murray-House.aspx
(28)
1810 - The Thomas Woodhouse House at
3067 W. Neck Rd. (12.3 miles south) was built in 1810 by John Frizzell in the
Federal architecture style, a wood frame two-story structure with a brick
American bond chimney with Flemish bond headers and asphalt shingles. The
Woodhouse cemetery, where Thomas is buried, is near a dilapidated barn. Captain
Thomas Woodhouse bought the house in 1811. Today the Fountain family own the
property. The home is one of the few buildings of its type in Virginia Beach,
representing the transition from Colonial and Georgian architecture to Federal
style in the region.
Reference: “Virginia Beach,
Then and Now,” by Amy Hayes Castleberry, 2010, page 74.
(29) 1811 -
the Wells Planation House - 6036 Frament Ave. along Lake Taylor (5.6 mi west) built
in 1811 in then-Princess Anne County until Norfolk annexed as part of the
Kempsville District in 1959. The date 1811 is carved into a brick in the
basement. The original house was a Federal middle-class vernacular style
farmhouse built along the former Princess Anne Turnpike, the historic main
route between Norfolk and the settlements of Newtown and Kempsville to the east. In
1797, Henry Wells Sr. purchased 100 acres from George Shores for 160 pounds.
Four years later he gifted the property to his son Henry Wells Jr. who married
Frances Thorowgood in 1806. The wedding was officiated by Old Donation
Episcopal Church’s Rev. Anthony Walke. They had four children and owned seven
slaves. Wells died April 14, 1814. Since
then, at least seven families have lived in the Wells house, as the land around
it was divided into other parcels and dwindled from 100 acres to under two. The
house was bought in 1987 by the Stockburgers who are the current owners.
Reference: History Lives on at Former
Plantation,
“by Katherine Hafner, the Virginia Pilot, May 16, 2019
(30)
1827 – Bayville Farm Manor House (no
longer in existence) at 4137 1st Court Road on the Bayville Golf Club grounds (4.8
miles NE) was built by Peter Singleton II, a Thoroughgood descendant. He grew
up at Pleasant Hall. Shortly after he finished the Bayville house he lost it in
a game of cards. A few years later the estate came into the ownership of a Mr.
Garrison who made Bayville the center of the county’s social life prior to the
Civil War. The land was farmed, especially for strawberries that were shipped
north. A dairy provided milk for most of Princess Anne County, and Arabian
horses were bred. In 1919 Charles F. Burroughs Sr bought the farm. In Aug 2008
the house burned to the ground. Reference: “Virginia
Beach, Then and Now,” by Amy Hayes Castleberry, 2010, page 15.
(31)
1897 - Charles Mitchell Barnett House at
521 Fairfax Avenue in Norfolk (9.5 miles east) built by Charles M.
Barnett (1869 - 1924). This was one of his three homes (his others were a home
in New York City and the Ferry
Plantation House). He moved in 1898 to the Ferry Plantation House. In Oct 1912 his
wife Stella died from toadstool poisoning. Charles lived on at Ferry Plantation until his death in 1924. Barnett was
in the shipping and oyster business, and he shipped the famous Lynnhaven
Oysters all over, including to New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel and Grand
Central Station. Though his New York connection, Old Donation Church was able
to obtain a $7,000 loan from a New York bank to rebuild ODEC in 1914. He and
his wife Stella Barnett held oyster roasts for church members at their Ferry
Farm Plantation home alternating with Judge White at his White Acre home, both
roasts located next to the Lynnhaven River.
(32)
1830 – Oak Hill built by the
Woodhouse family near 1040 Caton Dr, Virginia Beach, VA, 23454 and Oak Hill Ct.
facing Linkhorn Bay (10.9 miles east). The house was constructed in the Federal
style and sits on the foundation of an earlier structure.
Reference: “Virginia
Beach, Then and Now,” by Amy Hayes Castleberry, 2010, page 25.
(33) 1832 - Old Comfort at 1437 N Woodhouse Road built in 1832 by Henry Robert
Woodhouse (1811 - 1890) – (11.4 miles east) was built using slave labor in 1832
by Henry Robert Woodhouse, the 8th generation from Henry Woodhouse III (see
House no 5 above). It is called a Half
House, common in this area in the early 19th Century, and thus named because
Henry had planned to build the other half later, when he was prosperous enough
to afford it. Because of a childhood illness Henry became stone deaf at 11
years of age. This physical handicap kept him from serving in the Confederate
Army, but he was loyal to the cause of the south and was for years a friend of
General Robert E. Lee who visited him at his home on Linkhorn Bay. When the war
was over, and slaves freed, the Woodhouse slaves all stole off in the middle of
the night leaving behind tiny baby Jim who was found the next morning in the
kitchen and raised by the Woodhouse family. Henry Woodhouse died in 1890, and followed
by his wife Mary in 1907.
Reference: “Virginia
Beach, Then and Now,” by Amy Hayes Castleberry, 2010, page 27.
(34)
1855 - White Acre (NLE) at 2478 White
Acres Ct. (1.9 miles NE). Judge White (1868-1946) purchased his ancestral home
White Acre, built in the 1850’s on several hundred acres overlooking the
southwestern branch of the Lynnhaven River at Witchduck Bay (today’s White
Acres Court), and restored it to its old-time charm. To purchase and restore
White Acre, Benjamin possibly used funds from the sale of property, known as
Woodstock Farm, inherited from his father Caleb White. Benjamin was Caleb’s
only son. However, more likely Judge White used funds acquired from wise real
estate purchases. In keeping with his interests in flowers and animals, he
brought to his White Acre lawn magnificent camellia and azalea bushes, and many
domestic and wild animals including wild geese and beautiful flamingos. In his
will he wrote, "I desire my Canadian wild geese delivered to the U.S.
Government, to be placed, if possible, on some wild life sanctuary." White
Acre was one of the most prominent show places on the Lynnhaven River in its
day and Benjamin hosted annual oyster roasts for the church and neighbors until
1934 when the roast moved to the church grounds.
(35) 1860
- Church Point Manor -4001 Church
Point Road (8 miles). This farmhouse was built on a tract of farmland
owned by colonist Adam Thoroughgood. Another rare surviving 19th century
farmhouse is the Wells Planation House built in 1811 on Lake Taylor. Church
Point Manor is a 11,000-square-foot three-story Victorian-style home. It once
served as a temporary hospital for Confederate soldiers. In later years Church
Point Manor became McDonnell’s bed and breakfast featuring a wrap-around
veranda and fireplace in nearly every room, private dock on the Lynnhaven
River, a saltwater pool and tennis courts. A developer renovated the home in 1993,
allowing for opening of The Cellars. Before it closed in November 2016,
the restaurant was repeatedly recognized by OpenTable.com as one of the 100
most romantic restaurants in the country. The original asking price for the house
was $2.5 million. It sold in 2018 at the much lower $1.6 million since the owner
was in debt as the result of the bookkeeper embezzling more than $377,000, even
though the B&B was turning a good profit.
Reference: “An
employee stole $377,000 from a popular Virginia Beach restaurant.”” by
Scott Daugherty, Nov 5, 2018, the Virginian Pilot
(36)
1920 - The Parks Home off Kings Way
Lane at 4300 Calverton Lane (at the end of the lane) on Witchduck Bay (1.4 miles northwest) built
by Rufus I and Diana Parks. They joined Old Donation just after the 1916
reconstruction. Diana Talbot Walke Parks established the Altar Guild and served
as its chairman until 1971. She originated the church Christmas pageant in 1926
and was instrumental in establishing Old Donation’s annual Oyster Roast and
Bazaar in 1934. Ann Parks (1917 - 2002), daughter of Diana Parks, dedicated
herself to service at Old Donation for over 70 years. In the 1930’s, in
addition to her long hours at fund raisers, she was active in rehabilitating
the neglected historical Old Donation Cemetery by establishing a burial plot
book and moving several historic tomb stones to the church cemetery that had
been left neglected in other locations. Along with Etehl Howren (1905 - 1983), she
was among the first women to serve on the vestry. In 2003 Reverend Irwin M. Lewis christened
the Parks Memorial Fine Arts Series in honor of the highly esteemed Parks
family. Diana Parks lived alone in the house after her parents died, and after she died the house sat vacant for several years. In 2012 the house sold, a house situated on three acres with 600 feet of Lynnhaven River waterfront.
Other
Historic Houses Built / Owned by People Outside
Lynnhaven Parish
/ Old Donation Church
1832
– Brown’s Tavern at 2176 General
Booth Boulevard – 12 miles south
1857
– The Baxter House at 3175 Land of
Promise Road by Isaac N. Baxter (unknown if ODEC Parishioners) – 18 miles south
1865
- Bayville Farms House / Church Point
Manor at 4001 Church Point Road built in about 1865, the original owners
were the Garrison family (unknown if ODEC Parishioners) – 4.2 miles north
1895
- deWitt Cottage (Home of the
Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum) at 1113 Atlantic Avenue was built in 1895 by
Bernard Peabody Holland (unknown if ODEC Parishioner).
1908
– The Dr. John Miller-Masury House
at 515 Wilder Road built in 1908 for Dr. John Miller Masury (unknown if ODEC
Parishioner) – 12.6 miles east -
1932
- The Briarwood at 1500 Southwick
Rd. built in 1932 for James Bingham, Jr. (unknown if ODEC Parishioner) – 9.4
miles east
1959
- The Andrew B. Cooke House, at the
end of 51st Street on Crystal Lake, was designed in 1953 and completed in 1959
for Andrew B. & Maude Cooke. Along with the Pope-Leighey House and the Luis
Marden House, it is one of three Frank Lloyd Wright designs in Virginia. The
home is an example of green building before its time. It was built into a sand
dune under pine trees. An arcing wall of windows faces south and soaks up light
and heat. Inside, the great room holds Wright's furniture, cypress wood beams,
a heated concrete floor and a large hearth cleaved in the masonry. A copper,
cantilevered roof tops the home, which follows the shape of a question mark. The house was sold in 2018.
“Frank Lloyd Wright
home in Virginia Beach sells for $2.2M,” November 17, 2016.
https://www.midcenturyhome.com/frank-lloyd-wright-cooke-house
