Stratford Hall - Stratford

Stratford Hall is located on Great House Road in Stratford, Virginia.  This Georgian style plantation house was the home of the Lee family of Virginia.  The original home on the site was known as the Clifts Plantation and was constructed in the mid-1600's by Nathanial Pope.  The land was purchased in 1717 by Thomas Lee, Governor of the colony, and in 1738 he constructed what was to be known as the Great House, a two story Georgian Mansion in the shape of an H.  Thomas and his wife, Hannah Harrison Ludwell, raised eight children in the house, several of whom would become noted historic figures, including Richard Henry Lee (b. 1732), and Francis Lightfoot Lee (b. 1734), both of whom were delegates to the Second Continental Congress and signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Upon Thomas Lee's death in 1750 the plantation was inherited by his son, Philip Ludwell Lee, and his wife, Elizabeth Steptoe, who oversaw it until it grew to over 6,000 acres.  In 1775 Philip died and in 1780 Elizabeth married Philip Richard Fendall, an Alexandria banker.  In 1782, Elizabeth's dauther Matilda, known as "Divine Matlida," married her cousin, Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee.  In 1784, in an arrangement made with Fendall, Harry gave him property in exchange for his relinquishing any claim on Stratford Hall.  Matilda, now the heir to Stratford, lived here with Harry until her death in 1790.  From 1791 to 1794 Harry served as the Governor of Virginia.  Near the end of his term, in 1793, he married Anne Hill Carter from Shirley Plantation, and the couple moved back to Stratford, where they had six children together, including Robert E. Lee, who was born here on January 19, 1807.  Harry had difficulties in managing the plantation and in 1809 went bankrupt.  He served time in debtor's prison then moved the family to Alexandria, leaving Stratford in the care of his older son, Henry Lee IV.  Unable to make ends meet Henry sold the plantation in 1822.  The home passed through several hands during the next hundred years until it was purchased by the Robert E. Lee Memorial Association in 1929, restored, and opened to the public.  Stratford Hall was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, and added to the Virginia Landmarks Register in 1969.   

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