Scotchtown - Beaverdam

Patrick Henry's Scotchtown is located on Chiswell Lane in Beaverdam, Virginia.  The plantation goes back to 1717 when Charles Chiswell received a grant of land at this location.  By 1745 the main house we see today had been built, either around the prior main house, which dated to 1719, or competely new on the grounds where the original main house once stood.  After Charles Chiswell died in 1737 the house passed through his family, first to his son, Colonel John Chiswell, and then to John's son-in-law, John Robinson.  In 1766 John Robinson died, deeply in debt, and the planatation was put up for sale to help pay his debts.  In 1771 the famous lawyer and orator Patrick Henry moved to Scotchtown, along with his wife Sarah, and their five children.  It was from here that Henry rode to St. John's Church in Richmond, where on March 23, 1775 he gave his famous "Give Me Liberty of Give Me Death" speech.  Around that same time Sarah Henry was showing signs of mental illness.  For awhile she was kept in a small basement apartment, but eventually died later in the year and was buried in an unmarked grave on the property.  In 1776 Henry was elected the first governor of Virginia, and in 1777, along with his new wife, Dorothea Dandridge, he moved to the Governor's Mansion in Williamsburg.  Scotchtown also has an association with Dolley Madison in that it is claimed to be her childhood home.  No doumentary evidence of this exists, however she was related to the Henry family, and did have recollections later in life of having lived here.  Her father, John Payne, purchased a home nearby, Cole's Hill, in 1771.  In 1801 Scotchtown found itself in the hands of John Mosby Sheppard.  Sheppard made several changes to the plantation, including building new structures, and remodeling the main house.  The Sheppards held the remaining 99 acres of land until 1958, when the property came to the APVA Preservation Virginia, which still maintains the land.  Scotchtown was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 and added to the Virginia Landmarks Register in 1969.         

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