Locust Grove (Dillwyn, Virginia)
Locust Grove is a historic residence between Dillwyn and Buckingham in Buckingham County in the U.S. state of Virginia. It was built before 1794 and is known for his connection to Peter Francisco as Peter Francisco House. Under this name it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 16, 1972.
Description
Locust Grove is a one and a half story house with a gabled roof and two dormers on each side of the roof. A ledge forms the basis for the roof. There are two fireplaces, the eastern is brick in Flemish Association and originally At each end of the building. The western built in the English Association fireplace seems to be a replacement building of a later period and was probably when the house still had a one-story wing. This wing does not exist anymore, but the foundation of his chimney is still visible. A small garden was created in place of the former site of construction. The base of the building is brick in English Association, the building is fully built. When the house for the National Register of Historic Places was nominated, the window frames and the shops were still original, as well as a large part of the wood paneling .. The components of the house made of pine are joined together with wooden pegs and nails made of wood.
Inside, the house is divided on each floor into two main rooms, the stairs to the upper floor is located in the central hall. Little remains of the original interior. Fireplace mantels and paneling were removed, as well as some of the floor boards on the second floor, which were partially broken down. A part of the staircase and the northern exit door are original. The walls were once partly tiled, much of it is but degrades over time.
Locust Grove has suffered over the years and was at the time of assessment for entry in the National Register of Historic Places as " Deteriorated " judged, ie " expire " as. The largest part of the framework, however, has survived the time, allowing a glimpse of the construction of the house, many of the decorations inside and voicing of the building, however, are gone. Through extensive restoration work, the house is now back in a habitable condition.
Location
Locust Grove is located approximately one mile from the Virginia State Route 626 near the border of Buckingham County with the Cumberland County. The driveway to the house is from the north. The house stands at the end of a dirt road surrounded by farmland and scrub. The house stands at the edge of a mountain above the Payne Creek, quite isolated from the community in the area. When it was built, it was connected with the old carriage road that once led from Richmond to Appomattox; during archaeological excavations of the old road bed were discovered near the house remains.
History
Little is known about the beginnings of the house. It has been proven that it was built before 1794, as Francisco that year resident took the house. He lived until the middle of the 1825er years here. One source called the 1785, while another takes a date 1790-1810 due to the style. Francisco himself had a commitment to the area - he grew up in Hunting Towers, which lies in the vicinity of estate of Patrick Henry's uncle, Judge Anthony Winston. It is unknown how Francisco became owners of the land, is at Locust Grove; the tradition of the family history suggests that he received it from the grower James Anderson, the father of his first wife Susannah. [note 1]. Anyway, he lived here with his second wife, Catherine Brooke, with whom he jointly raised them four children. She died in 1821; two years later he married again, this time with a widowed niece of Governor Edmund Randolph. They finally convinced him to give up the country life in favor of a more comfortable life in Richmond, where he worked as chief official order of the Senate of Virginia and where he remained until his death.
From the time Francisco on Locust Grove little records are maintained. This scarcity of information suggest that the farm for Virginia in time to the early 19th century was typical. A 1815 investigation of a personal property tax -positioned inventory notes that there are seven slaves over twelve years was in the budget and a. Between nine and twelve, also six horses and twelve head of cattle Could not find a coach or clock, no furniture of mahogany, but the household had to pay taxes for a mirror with a forged frame, two goblets of crystal glass, three images and an unknown number of gilded frames. Accordingly, Francisco was at that time not part of high society of Virginia, but probably among the wealthy residents of the county.
Peter Francisco died in 1831; the next traditional owners of Locust Grove was Robert Rives, who owned it in 1845 for a short time. From him the title to John S. Coleman went over, who lived here until 1906. The next owner was Abner Spencer and lived until after 1932 here. The Society of the Descendants of Peter Francisco began to care for the property at the beginning of the 1970s and leased it to the symbolic price of one dollar per year. The intention was to restore the building and convert it into a dedicated to the memory of Francisco Museum. The restoration of the house was completed, in part, however, never built due to the allocation of matching funds from the federal government of the United States relating to enrollment on the National Register, the museum and the house passed into private ownership.
Archaeological excavations
As part of the restoration of Locust Grove in the late 1980s, the plot of students at Longwood College was visited, carried out the archaeological excavations at five different areas of the property. The most important of these was the discovery of a tomb of an infant in a corner of the former kitchen garden near the house. According to oral tradition, Francisco had a daughter who died as an infant and was buried in the garden, but official records of such funeral or birth does not exist in the 1820s. The discovery of the tomb was the oral tradition greater credibility. Also on the grounds of the property the remains of the foundations of a shed for drying tobacco were found, which burned down in 1826 [note 2] and ash, nails and fragments of nails. The excavations revealed the foundations and the basement of an old ice house, which was later used as landfill as well as the foundations of another smaller building whose purpose is unclear and a small spring -days. Many original beams and door and window frames of the house were also found and replaced in the restoration. The originals were stored for further investigation in the basement of the house.