Port Royal Va.

Following are  pictures that Steve and I took around  Port Royal early in the fall of 2011.   We go maybe once a month.  We enjoy the food at the Tavern across the street where we have lunch.  The  prices are reasonable, plus  a stroll around  the neighborhood  in the historical area to walk off the lunch is a good idea.   

Brockenbrough-Peyton house

Regarded as the finest mansion in Port Royal

Once owned by Champ Brockenbrough and then the Peyton family before 1865

here is where John Wilkes Booth and David Herold came for lodging

Sarah Jane Peyton after serving them tea,  didn't like the looks of them

She suggested they try the farm of Richard Garrett which is two miles south of Port Royal

--=We all know what happened after that----

decaying out building

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Masonic bldg 1852

A pleasant day for walking and this shot has some of the pretty clipped box on the way to the lodge

A multi purpose structure -  the ground floor served as an Academy

Port Royal town hall and then a General Store

The second floor was home to the Kilwinning Crosse Masonic Lodge

Chartered in 1754 , it is the second oldest in Virginia

Since many members came on horseback the meetings were held on or before the full moon,  so the riders would have moonlight to ride home by.

Check out the brick work - layer on layer

This home had one of  the prettiest yards with clipped hedges - Dally house

Dally house 1850

Records are lost to this pre - civil war home

Typical of the post colonial era is the way the gardens and yard is laid out and planted

brick edged walkways and geometric topiary reminds me of Williamsburg gardens

pretty side view from the street

Timberlake (oldest part 1750) didn't get a picture of the whole house.   Felt strange taking pics with people in the yard.

expanded over the years to 15 rooms , it was a small cottage in the beginning

didn't get the name of this one

Cattlet house 1760- first recorded owner was a John Buckner

Remained in Buckner family til 1805

Farish printing circa 1750

Believed originally to ba a tavern,  taverns were plentiful .  Converted to a print shop in 1929 and lasted into

the 1980's

Fox Tavern 1767 - A Port Royal sea captain , William Fox received a liscense to operate a Tavern in his home in 1755.    George Washington and Thomas Jefferson often visited this Tavern and there are receipts recording their stays. Bought by John Catltet in 1816 and turned into a private residence.

I like the worn steps

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below is  Riverview -Built on a 1757 foundation - shelling from Union gunboats damaged the home during Civil war

In 1865 - John Wilkes Booth fleeing after assassinating President Lincoln ,  crossed the Rappahannock and landed here.  He was invited in but declined and made his way to Brockenbrough - Peyton house

The only female commissioned nurse during the Civil War - Sallie Thompkins "Nurse of the Confederacy" bought this home

and lived here til 1905

Murray house circa 1750

Hard to believe it's still standing,  you can see it tilted some in the siding

May be one of the towns oldest structures.    Built by James Bowie who operated a ferry that crossed the Rappahannock to Port Conway.  Sits on a high bluff and is sited into the slope.  Large sandstone boulders are contained in the interior of the foundation

I didn't get picture of the house

Above is Pearson house c. 1775

the first structure on this property was in place before 1787

John and Elizabeth Pearson bought the property in 1804

and completed the present structure.

When Port Royal was platted in 1744 it was in the English colonial parish of St. Marys formed in 1677

In 1835 St. Peters was built in the Gothic Greek Revival style



Townfield 1745-50   1790 and 1837

The original one and a half story Georgian central passage dwelling was built by a wealthy merchant and businessman Robert Gilchrist.   Before his death in 1790 he added a new wing.

In a small cemetary on the property some members of the Gilchrist as well as some lightfoot family are buried.

Tennant house c. 1760

Tennant was a Port Royal doctor

This home was constructed in two phases,  one nearer the corner is the oldest part

The Dr. was chosen to quarrantine sailors suspected of harboring smallpox

One room became Caroline countys first hospital

sold for $500.00 in 1847 To a Baltimore merchant

Another fine home is the  Hord House 1819

Just a barn in someones yard in the neighborhood I liked.   I do love barns.

Care - Holloway House c. 1770

Built by Scottish Immigrant - Andrew Leckie

Served as the Port Royal Tavern - later became a retail store

Merchant and land speculator John Hipkins and his wife Elizabeth purchased the structure  and turned into a home in 1784

House was purchased by William and Margaret Care in 1825

beginning in 1878 - Frances Brockenbrough Holloway

lived all of her 92 years here.

There were a few more homes I did not get a shot of or that didn't turn out

I want to ride through at Christmas to see how the places are decorated.

Happy Sunday

betsy