Chatham - 2

Continuing the sharing of what I have learned from my visit to Chatham.

James Lacy married the niece of Churchill Jones and owned Chatham during the war years. He served the Confederacy as a staff officer at 37.  His wife and children were forced to leave the house in 1862 by Union Soldiers.  Using Pontoon bridges - General Ambrose Burnside brought his 120,000  man army of the Potomac to Fredericksburg.  Crossing the Rappahannock river below Chatham - seized Fredericksburg.  Lees Confederates suffered  bloody attacks.   Along with the Union defeat of Fredericksburg was 12,600 casualties suffered by Burnside.  Many of them brought back to Chatham for care.   Hundreds of Army soldiers were operated on inside the house.  Two of the volunteers assisting the surgeons - Clara Barton, who later founded the American Chapter of the International Red Cross and poet Walt Whitman who came searching for a brother who was wounded in the fighting.  
Whitman notes that  outside at the base of a tree,the amputated limbs,  about enough to load a one horse cart, and bodies of soldiers wrapped in their blankets.
  130 or more Union Soldiers died at Chatham and buried there.

Amputated limbs were thrown from the window and landed at the base of this tree.

After the war, bodies were taken to the cemetery in Fredericksburg   Three bodies were  found later and buried at Chatham.
The Lacys  returned home after the war and found blood stained floors , marred plaster walls with graffiti and forest cut down for fuel.
Their yard - a graveyard.   Chatham was sold in 1872 and the Lacy family moved to their other home - Ellwood,  Stonewall Jackson's arm is buried there.
Many sales later and in 1920's , Daniel and Helen Devore bought Chatham , restored and made changes.  
John Pratt an industrialist purchased the house in 1931 and willed the 12,000 square foot mansion  to the Park service..

The limb trees in distance at the end of side walk are in front of room where injured were cared for and amputations took place - left side of pix

original entrance roads wind down the bluff to the river

On the front of the home(original entrance) there used to be a two story Greek revival style porches

Outline of porches are still visible today 

In 1984 restoration had begun on the colonial revival east garden

The walls, columns and statues represent this period

green house 1900

Chatham - part 1

On a very hot day last week while sweating bullets,  my friend and I decided to visit Fredericksburg Va. Civil War battlefield and Chatham in Stafford County Va..   Glad we did.
  I will start with Chatham, named after William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham.   A Georgian mansion, this place has beautiful gardens and wow what a history .  Built between the years of 1768 and 1771 by William Fitzhugh, it sits on a bluff overlooking the Rappahannock river and the town of Fredericksburg.   Dozens of supporting structures flanked the main house.  This  18th century plantation house on 1,280 acres  for years was a prosperous estate supported by 100 slaves,  Fitzhugh employed millers, blacksmiths and carpenters. 
There was a slave insurrection in 1805,  at this time Fitzhugh was living in Alexandria  since the 1790's to escape the hundred of guests who visited Chatham each year.  Fitzhugh put Chatham up for sale in 1796 and left.  The expense in providing for Chathams guests in entertainment and food aided in his decision to move.
 A former officer in the Continental Army purchased Chatham in 1806 for $20,000.00.   His name - Major Churchill Jones who owned it for 66 years.
Famous visitors were Robert E Lee, George Washington.  William Fitzhugh was second cousin of Thomas Jefferson, so it is assumed he also visited Chatham.  President elect William Henry Harrison was on the grounds but never came inside the home.

Pictures can be enlarged by clicking on

this tree is so huge

River view of home - original entrance  of home

close up of entrance today

Long line of grapes as we enter Chatham

 

River View

original entrance view of home

Gargoyle repair

He was dropped and broken on the wing and tip of wing.    I always keep mighty putty on hand as this stuff is great for repairs like this.   I attached the wing and made a new tip with the mighty putty.  Then sprayed with Kryon stone paint.   Really happy with the results.  

You can see where I mended the wing and tip

sprayed with Krylon

can't hardly tell where it was broke

worked well for the tip also

Hydrangea

Last year this bush did not bloom at all.  I am wondering if it is one that blooms every other year.  I didn't plant it ,  the original owners did,  so I think it's about 20 years old.  It is huge.

different colors

the variation in the color for one flower

From purple to pink

I guess these are begonias,  they were here when we bought the house also

the back of the leaf is a dark burgundy color

Our Roses store had these baskets of  Geraniums for $5.00

I got 3 baskets and split the flowers up for planters on my front porch

I have quite a few of these and I think they are called - carpet flower

I have so many of these Zinnias that I planted last year and they are reapearing this year from the seed