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Castle Hill (Virginia)
Encyclopedia
Castle Hill, is an historic, 600 acres (242.8 ha) plantation located at the foot of the Southwest Mountains
in Albemarle County, Virginia
, near Monticello
and the city of Charlottesville, recognized by the Virginia Landmarks Register
and the National Register of Historic Places
. Castle Hill was the beloved home of Dr. Thomas Walker
(1715-1794) and his wife, Mildred Thornton Meriwether (widow of Nicholas Meriwether III). Walker was a close friend and the physician of Peter Jefferson
, and later the guardian of young Thomas Jefferson
after his father's death.
to give the patriot Jack Jouett
time to warn Governor Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislators of Tarleton's plan to capture them.
In addition to frequent visits by Thomas Jefferson, Castle Hill has entertained other U. S. Presidents and historic figures including George Washington
, James Madison
, James Monroe
, Patrick Henry
, Andrew Jackson
, Robert E. Lee
, James Buchanan
, Martin Van Buren
, John Tyler
, Henry Clay
, and Daniel Webster
.
The Walkers' youngest son, Francis Walker
(1764-1806), married Jane Byrd Nelson, the daughter of Governor Thomas Nelson
of Yorktown, and inherited Castle Hill. The estate was next inherited by Thomas & Mildred Walker’s granddaughter, Judith Page Walker (1802-1882), who married U. S. Senator William Cabell Rives
(1793-1868). William Cabell Rives studied law under Thomas Jefferson at Monticello
, and was a friend of James Madison. At Castle Hill, Rives wrote a three volume biography on Madison, entitled The Life and Times of James Madison (Little Brown & Co., Boston, 1859, 1866, 1868). A close friend of Dolley Madison
, Judith Rives authored the novel Home and the World (D. Appleton and Company, New York,1857), in which she wrote of life at Castle Hill as the fictitious “Avonmore.”
Colonel Alfred Landon Rives (1830-1903), son of William and Judith Rives, and chief of engineers to General Robert E. Lee during the American Civil War
, inherited Castle Hill. After Rives died in 1903, and his widow, Sarah Catherine MacMurdo Rives, died in 1909, their daughter, Amélie Louise Rives Troubetzkoy
(1863-1945), prominent romantic novelist, early feminist, and wife of artist, Russian Prince Pierre Troubetzkoy (1864-1936), inherited the property. At least three of Amélie’s novels, Virginia of Virginia (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1888), The Quick or the Dead? (J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1888), and Barbara Dering (J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1893), are drawn from life at Castle Hill. Amélie and Castle Hill were both featured in a New York Times article published on April 15, 1906.
In the early 1900s, Amélie’s sister, Mrs. Gertrude Rives Potts, who managed the estate after their father’s death, was recognized as the first woman Master of Foxhounds. While at Castle Hill, Gertrude imported and trained a pack of English Foxhounds, bred and schooled her own horses, organized a hunting staff, and enlisted the consent of neighboring landowners to form a suitable country for the “Castle Hill Hounds.” Castle Hill later became part of the Keswick Hunt Club district.
Castle Hill’s formal gardens were featured in an article written by Gertrude Potts published in the Historic Gardens of Virginia (The James River Garden Club, Richmond, 1923). The great box-hedges which stand at the top of the gardens are considered to be some of the tallest and most impressive boxwood in Virginia. The current expanded, multi-terraced and symmetrical formal gardens were designed in 1997 by Landscape architect
Rachel M. Lily.
Southwest Mountains
The Southwest Mountains of Virginia are a mountain range centered around Charlottesville, parallel to and geologically associated with the Blue Ridge Mountains, which lie about 30 miles to the west...
in Albemarle County, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, near Monticello
Monticello
Monticello is a National Historic Landmark just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia; it is...
and the city of Charlottesville, recognized by the Virginia Landmarks Register
Virginia Landmarks Register
The Virginia Landmarks Register is a list of historic properties in the state of Virginia. The state's official list of important historic sites, it was created in 1966. The Register serves the same purpose as the National Register of Historic Places...
and the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. Castle Hill was the beloved home of Dr. Thomas Walker
Thomas Walker (explorer)
Dr. Thomas Walker was a physician and explorer from Virginia who led an expedition to what is now the region beyond the Allegheny Mountains area of British North America in the mid-18th century...
(1715-1794) and his wife, Mildred Thornton Meriwether (widow of Nicholas Meriwether III). Walker was a close friend and the physician of Peter Jefferson
Peter Jefferson
Peter Jefferson was the father of American President Thomas Jefferson . A surveyor and cartographer, his Fry-Jefferson Map of 1751 accurately depicted the Allegheny Mountains for the first time and showed the route of "The Great Road from the Yadkin River thro Virginia to Philadelphia distant 455...
, and later the guardian of young Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
after his father's death.
History
Through his marriage to Mildred Meriwether in 1741, Thomas Walker acquired the land comprising approximately 15000 acres (6,070.3 ha) which would become the site for Castle Hill. In its square hall, the youthful, music-loving Jefferson once played the violin, while the still younger Madison danced. Here in 1781, Walker's wife delayed the British Colonel Banastre TarletonBanastre Tarleton
General Sir Banastre Tarleton, 1st Baronet, GCB was a British soldier and politician.He is today probably best remembered for his military service during the American War of Independence. He became the focal point of a propaganda campaign claiming that he had fired upon surrendering Continental...
to give the patriot Jack Jouett
Jack Jouett
John "Jack" Jouett, Jr. was a politician and a hero of the American Revolution, known as the "Paul Revere of the South" for his late night ride to warn Thomas Jefferson, then the Governor of Virginia, and the Virginia legislature of coming British cavalry who had been sent to capture them...
time to warn Governor Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislators of Tarleton's plan to capture them.
In addition to frequent visits by Thomas Jefferson, Castle Hill has entertained other U. S. Presidents and historic figures including George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
, James Monroe
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
, Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...
, Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
, Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
, James Buchanan
James Buchanan
James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States . He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor and the last to be born in the 18th century....
, Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the United States . Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson ....
, John Tyler
John Tyler
John Tyler was the tenth President of the United States . A native of Virginia, Tyler served as a state legislator, governor, U.S. representative, and U.S. senator before being elected Vice President . He was the first to succeed to the office of President following the death of a predecessor...
, Henry Clay
Henry Clay
Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
, and Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman and senator from Massachusetts during the period leading up to the Civil War. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...
.
The Walkers' youngest son, Francis Walker
Francis Walker (Virginia)
Francis Walker was an American planter and politician from Albemarle County, Virginia. He was member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1788-91 and again in 1797-1801. He represented Virginia in the U.S. Congress from 1793 to 1795.Francis was the second son, and one of twelve children of Dr....
(1764-1806), married Jane Byrd Nelson, the daughter of Governor Thomas Nelson
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Thomas Nelson, Jr. was an American planter, soldier, and statesman from Yorktown, Virginia. He represented Virginia in the Continental Congress and was its Governor in 1781. He is regarded as one of the U.S. Founding Fathers since he signed the Declaration of Independence as a member of the...
of Yorktown, and inherited Castle Hill. The estate was next inherited by Thomas & Mildred Walker’s granddaughter, Judith Page Walker (1802-1882), who married U. S. Senator William Cabell Rives
William Cabell Rives
William Cabell Rives was an American lawyer, politician and diplomat from Albemarle County, Virginia. He represented Virginia as a Jackson Democrat in both the U.S. House and Senate and also served as the U.S. minister to France....
(1793-1868). William Cabell Rives studied law under Thomas Jefferson at Monticello
Monticello
Monticello is a National Historic Landmark just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia; it is...
, and was a friend of James Madison. At Castle Hill, Rives wrote a three volume biography on Madison, entitled The Life and Times of James Madison (Little Brown & Co., Boston, 1859, 1866, 1868). A close friend of Dolley Madison
Dolley Madison
Dolley Payne Todd Madison was the spouse of the fourth President of the United States, James Madison, and was First Lady of the United States from 1809 to 1817...
, Judith Rives authored the novel Home and the World (D. Appleton and Company, New York,1857), in which she wrote of life at Castle Hill as the fictitious “Avonmore.”
Colonel Alfred Landon Rives (1830-1903), son of William and Judith Rives, and chief of engineers to General Robert E. Lee during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, inherited Castle Hill. After Rives died in 1903, and his widow, Sarah Catherine MacMurdo Rives, died in 1909, their daughter, Amélie Louise Rives Troubetzkoy
Amélie Rives Troubetzkoy
Amélie Louise Rives Troubetzkoy was an American novelist and poet. Rives wrote at least twenty-four volumes of fiction, numerous uncollected poems, and Herod and Marianne , a verse drama. In 1888, she published novel The Quick or the Dead?, her most famous and popular work that sold 300,000 copies...
(1863-1945), prominent romantic novelist, early feminist, and wife of artist, Russian Prince Pierre Troubetzkoy (1864-1936), inherited the property. At least three of Amélie’s novels, Virginia of Virginia (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1888), The Quick or the Dead? (J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1888), and Barbara Dering (J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1893), are drawn from life at Castle Hill. Amélie and Castle Hill were both featured in a New York Times article published on April 15, 1906.
In the early 1900s, Amélie’s sister, Mrs. Gertrude Rives Potts, who managed the estate after their father’s death, was recognized as the first woman Master of Foxhounds. While at Castle Hill, Gertrude imported and trained a pack of English Foxhounds, bred and schooled her own horses, organized a hunting staff, and enlisted the consent of neighboring landowners to form a suitable country for the “Castle Hill Hounds.” Castle Hill later became part of the Keswick Hunt Club district.
Architecture
The original clapboard, colonial residence was built by Walker in 1764, with a front porch facing west and six dormer windows. William and Judith Rives added the brick, federal style addition to the home in 1824, which was built by Captain John Perry, one of Thomas Jefferson’s master brickmasons. In 1844 the home’s columned conservatories were added to each end of Perry’s addition by another Jefferson brickmason, William B. Phillips.Gardens
Landscape architect
A landscape architect is a person involved in the planning, design and sometimes direction of a landscape, garden, or distinct space. The professional practice is known as landscape architecture....
Rachel M. Lily.
See also
- Thomas Walker (Explorer)Thomas Walker (explorer)Dr. Thomas Walker was a physician and explorer from Virginia who led an expedition to what is now the region beyond the Allegheny Mountains area of British North America in the mid-18th century...
- William Cabell RivesWilliam Cabell RivesWilliam Cabell Rives was an American lawyer, politician and diplomat from Albemarle County, Virginia. He represented Virginia as a Jackson Democrat in both the U.S. House and Senate and also served as the U.S. minister to France....
- Amélie Rives TroubetzkoyAmélie Rives TroubetzkoyAmélie Louise Rives Troubetzkoy was an American novelist and poet. Rives wrote at least twenty-four volumes of fiction, numerous uncollected poems, and Herod and Marianne , a verse drama. In 1888, she published novel The Quick or the Dead?, her most famous and popular work that sold 300,000 copies...
- Julia MagruderJulia MagruderJulia Magruder, was an American novelist. Most of her novels are love stories in which the heroine must face obstacles in pursuit of her goal to find true love. Several of her novels were serialized in the Ladies' Home Journal...