Wheatland (Loretto, Virginia)
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Wheatland | |
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| Location | VA 638 between US 17 and the Rappahanock River, Loretto, Virginia |
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| Coordinates | 38°05′04″N 77°03′35″W / 38.08444°N 77.05972°WCoordinates: 38°05′04″N 77°03′35″W / 38.08444°N 77.05972°W |
| Area | 350 acres (140 ha) |
| Built | 1849-1851 |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 89001918[1] |
| VLR # | 028-0044 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | December 19, 1990 |
| Designated VLR | September 20, 1988[2] |
Wheatland is a historic plantation home located near Loretto, Essex County, Virginia. It was built between 1849 and 1851, and is a two-story, five-bay, frame dwelling with a hipped roof in the Greek Revival style. It has a double-pile central hall plan, and features two-story porches on the primcipal facades. A simple one-story gable-roofed frame wing contains a kitchen. The property includes a contributing wharf (1916), smokehouse and kitchen.[3]
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[1]
History
The house was constructed by John Saunders, between 1849 and 1851. Saunders, who was a merchant as well as a planter, built the plantation wharf that is still in use.[3] This wharf is one of the only surviving steamboat wharves left today,[4] and is the only such wharf remaining on the Rappahannock River. During his ownership and that of his son Walton Saunders, the plantation wharf was a locus of river transportation and commerce for Essex County and nearby communities. Although the original wharf was burned down in the year 1900, the structure was rebuilt in 1901 and is still being utilized today.[5] From the middle of the nineteenth century until September 11, 1937—for almost a century—steamboats plied the waters between Fredericksburg, Tidewater Virginia, and Baltimore, and Saunders wharf at Wheatland was a regular stop for passengers and freight. Improvements in highway and railroad transportation finally put an end to this traffic that had enabled the plantation to survive intact during the Reconstruction Era.[3]
The plantation itself was spared during the Civil War. Several Union gunboats passed by the house during the course of the war, but not until 1864 was it threatened. A Union gunboat commander "came up to the house and ordered Mr. Saunders to evacuate the premises because they intended to shell the house. Instead Mr. Saunders gathered together all of the family and servants and they sat defiantly on the front steps." According to family tradition, the commander declined to shell civilians but destroyed a granary instead. In 1866 John Saunders sold this property (which was formally known as Haygins) to his son Robert S. Saunders, who lived in Alabama. Robert sold the property to his brother Walton Saunders in 1869. It was Walton Saunders who named the plantation Wheatland in 1871.[3]
I've been told by family members that Russel Wilson, quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks, spent some time on the property during his high school days in the mid-2000s.
Architecture
The main portion of Wheatland, constructed between 1849 and 1851, consists of a two-story, five bay frame residence with a raised brick basement and hipped roof. The building is perfectly symmetrical, with two identical front elevations, one facing the river and the other the road, and a double-pile central hall plan. The entire structure is clad with weatherboards and the roof is covered with standing seam metal. A pair of interior brick chimneys pierce the east and west roof slopes. Two-story porches, embellished with typical Greek Revival pediments and Italianate decorative balustrades, are located on the two principal facades. Windows throughout are six-over-six double-hung with louvered shutters. A simple one-story gable-roofed frame wing is connected on the west elevation. The wing functions primarily as the kitchen. Of frame construction with weatherboard siding and a gable roof covered with asphalt, it is three bays wide, one story in height and has a single room. The structure rests upon a raised brick basement that is interrupted by a pair of double-hung windows on the north and south elevations and a door on the west end. A single bay porch resting on brick piers with a shed roof supported by a pair of square columns with simple caps and bases protects the central entrance and is flanked on either side by a double-hung window. Though a very simple structure, it is detailed with a boxed cornice. An interior brick chimney is located at the west end. The interior has been modified during this century for use as a kitchen. A frame hyphen connects the kitchen to the main portion of the house. Originally supported by brick piers, the hyphen has a continuous foundation due to concrete block infill between the piers. The two principal north and south facades of the mid-nineteenth century portion of Wheatland are identical, as are the east and west end elevations, with the exception that the earlier one-story structure is attached to the west. The massing, plan and overall influence of the is predominately Greek Revival, however, some of the details are more closely associated with the Italianate style. Originally bracketed hood mouldings, not typically found on Greek Revival buildings, adorned the tops of the first floor windows. The porch balustrade of flat jig-sawn balusters is also not typical the otherwise classically-detailed Greek Revival porch embellished with a dentilled pediment and entablature and square columns with moulded caps and bases. The house rests on a raised brick foundation that is punctuated with windows and doors that correspond with the regular fenestration of the upper two floors. The north wall of the foundation has five windows, the south has a door flanked on either side by two windows, the east has two windows and the west has one window and a door that accesses the basement. of the hyphen. The upper floors of the east elevation has two windows per floor, whereas the west elevation has a door in the place of a window that accesses the attached kitchen wing. Two pair of windows flank the central entrances of the upper floors of the north and south facades. The boxed cornice of the house is very simple and unadorned. The central entrances on the first and second floors of the north and south elevations each access a porch. The double-doored entrances of the first floor consist of two-paneled wood doors with two-light transoms and narrow two-light sidelights with wood panels below. The second floor entrances have a single paneled wood door without transoms and slighter wider four-light double-hung operable sidelights. The two-story porches of the north and south elevations are a dominant feature of the exterior and the most elaborately detailed. Supported on brick piers, the porches have two levels, each of which is supported by two pair of square columns the corners of which are slightly chamfered and the faces of which have a single vertical groove. Single pilasters are similarly detailed. The cornice of the first level has a dentilled cornice and the second level is covered by a pedimented gable roof.While the pediment is embellished with dentils, the cornice of the second level is not. The flat curvilinear slats of the railing are the most decorative feature of the porches. Each of the three floors of Wheatland consists of four principal rooms and a wide central hall. With the exception of the basement which is masonry, floors throughout are of heart pine and the walls are of plaster. The interior is ornamented with details likely ordered by catalog and delivered by water to the wharf, such as the mantels and woodwork. The woodwork for the most part is simple, with some of the chair rail and cornice found in some of the rooms having been added by the present owners. The baseboards are embellished with a simple bead, the door and window surrounds consists of architrave mouldings with bulls-eye cornerblocks and the wood doors have four raised panels. A focal point of the first floor hall is the open straight-run stair leading to the second floor and basement. It is detailed with turned balusters, heavy turned newel and curvilinear stair brackets. The entrance doors on the first floor have square bottom panels and elongated upper panels the tops of which are arched on the exterior. The hall has a chair rail and dentilled cornice. A single period light fixture hangs from the center of a round plaster moulding at the north end of the hall. Wood panels placed diagonally in the corners of the north end of the hall were added to disguise pipes. Two hammock hooks are located in the east and west walls at the north end of the hall. The northeast room on the first floor functions as the parlor. This room has a dentilled cornice and chair rail added by the current owners. A Federal wood mantel is not original to the house. A door to the left of the fireplace leads to the library situated at the southeast corner of the first floor. The finishes in this room are similar, with added cornice and chair rail and bookcases on the east and west walls. The mantel is green and black Vermont slate and is original to the house. It is likely that the original parlor mantel was similar. A closet,is located to the left of the fireplace is an original feature of the room. The office is located at the southwest corner. It too has a Vermont slate mantel, added chair rail and cornice and an original door accessing the dining room to the north. The west wall of this room has two doors, one of which leads to a utility area and the other directly into the hyphen that connects this room to the earlier structure now used as a kitchen. The dining room at the northwest has a stone mantel that has been painted. It is similar to the other two stone mantels found on the first floor but has a more ornate center cartouche supporting a curved shelf. The second floor is less elaborately detailed than the first. The wood trim is simple and is not moulded, though the chair rails are original. Mantels are of wood and are simply detailed with pilasters and shelves. The north end of the hall has been enclosed to accommodate two bathrooms. A ladder propped-up to a small door in the ceiling provides access to the attic. The southeast chamber has no chair rail and a simple mantel flanked on the left by a closet and on the right by book shelves. The northeast chamber has a heavy moulded chair rail and closet. The most elaborate mantel on the second floor is found in the southwest room which is connected to the northwest chamber by a closet passage with shelving. The northwest Room has a simple beaded chair rail. The basement plan is similar to the upper two floors. The space is more simply finished than the upstairs, though all of the walls are plastered and the spaces finished with simple woodwork. All but the southwest room have twentieth century wood floors. A battened door of beaded boards is located at the foot of the simple stair. A door at the south end of the hall leads to the area beneath the front porch. The opposite end of the hall has been enclosed and contains a modern kitchen. This area originally had iron bars on the window and a dirt floor. The original function of the northwest room is unknown. The northeast room is identically detailed and likely served as a dining room. The southeast room, which possesses an added bath in the corner, was used as a schoolroom. The southwest room still retains its brick floor, a large fireplace with cooking crane and a door leading to the basement of the hyphen. This room now contains the mechanical equipment for the house.[3]
References
- 1 2 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
- ↑ "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- 1 2 3 4 5 John Salmon & Julie Vosmik (September 1988). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Wheatland" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. and Accompanying photo
- ↑ McDonough, Samuel. Our Founding Fathers Homes and Churches in Virginia. Sandy McDonough. ISBN 9780615288543.
- ↑ "Homeplace: Rappahannock River Retreat". Garden & Gun. Retrieved 2016-11-23.
