Virginia 6-3-2025

Today we visited Chatham House which sits way above the river and Fredericksburg. Interior is being refreshed so only 2 rooms open and no furniture but the outside was breathtaking. Built 1771by William Fitzhugh. He was a member of the House of Burgesses and friends with Washington and Jefferson. Property was a slave plantation. Owned by Betty and J.Horace Lacy during civil war. Was used as union headquarters and field hospital. Clara Barton, Mary Walker and Walt Whitman worked here helping the wounded. Sold 9 times till 1920 bought by Helen and Daniel Devore who transformed the property to a country retreat. Bought 1931 by John Lee Pratt who willed it to the national park service upon his death in 1975. Only home in USA to have hosted 3 presidents-Washington, Lincoln, Eisenhower.