TIMBERLAKE MANOR circa 1760, 1840, and 1908-1910

Also known as the "Gravatt House", named after the Dr. Gravatt family; occupied 1817-1932

OR

Name this historic home after your family 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Great Hall, which incorporates the "Port Royal Porch" - an extension of the hall beyond the main structure to create a larger hallway; the same was done at the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg.  Line dancing was very popular in colonial times, requiring a long hallway.  Several other houses in Port Royal share that feature.  The floor is genuine marble, several inches thick.

Above, double click to enlarge

PRICE AND TERMS 

Price:  $398,000;

Please Note:  This grand mansion is in need of some TLC.  The roof and HVAC require replacement.  You get to choose what type of roof, and HAVAC systems you want as well as finishing off bathrooms with fixtures and other finishing touches.  There is a strong possibility renovation/restoration might qualify for the Virginia Tax Credit program for historic structures which offers Virginia Tax Credits of 25% of the amount of qualifying improvements.  The house is sold in "As Is" condition. 

 

 

double click to enlarge

Timberlake is:

bulletwithin 100 yards of a 125 acre U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuge fronting upon the Rappahannock River.  Think of the Wildlife Refuge as a backyard and green space.  Access to the Refuge is regulated.  
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bulletacross Frederick Street from Townfield, which is under an historic easement protecting that property; 
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bulletin an area of a number of historic homes; 
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bulletand part of the Port Royal Historic District which is on both the state and national registers of historic places.

Below, winter  2010; The Town of Port Royal was fortunate to have its roads plowed by VDOT within 12 hours of the snow stopping.  It is a short distance to Route 301, which is an arterial highway and constantly plowed.

 

double click to enlarge

The house is on one acre featuring mature landscaping of large hardwoods.

About 5,088 square feet; 5 bedrooms (one on the first floor), 5 and 1/2 baths; large spacious rooms including a 'great hall'; large family room off kitchen featuring large fireplace and many windows.  Marble floors in great hall, kitchen, and a few other rooms.  Some of the bathrooms are just rough-in and need to be finished off.

 

Below, double click to view and/or print floor plans.  Note: these sketches are for illustrative purposes only and are not guaranteed in terms of accuracy and/or scope.

            

Below, at full scale, the sketch used by the real estate assessor.

 

Above, note the "widow's walk".   The roof needs replacing.  Two of the bathrooms are 'roughed in'; and there are other tasks, as with any old house. 

Timberlake probably (subject to your confirmation) qualifies for the Virginia Tax Credit program for qualifying rehabilitation expenses.  This program allows for a Virginia Income Tax Credit of 25% of qualifying expenses meeting guidelines.  Please note that you must qualify for the program, register for the program and follow guidelines.  

Details can be found at:  http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/tax_credits/tax_credit.htm

 

Below, double click to enlarge.  View of Caroline Street elevation; kitchen with marble; first floor bedroom; spacious family room. The family room replaced a part of the 1760 structure which burned in the 1990's. 

                             

Price:  $398,000

Shown by Appointment only, several days notice is appreciated:  Alex Long, 540.371.8700.

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Double Click to Enlarge Photos

First floor full bath; also half bath on first floor

Dinning Room

Second Floor master bedroom

Second Floor master bedroom bath are is roughed in, ready for your personal decisions

Another of the second floor bedrooms

Another of the second floor bathrooms

 

 

Above, sketch from 1978.  The 'vault, grave of Dr. Gravatt was relocated to the church yard.  The house was then improved/ restored.

 

Port Royal, Virginia

Port Royal, Virginia - an historic little town on the Rappahannock River;

bulletPort Royal is an incorporated town governed by an elected town council, from which the mayor is elected;
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bulletPort Royal is about 78 acres in size;
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bulletPort Royal is entirely upon both the State and National Registers of Historic Places;
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bulletPort Royal is about 25 to 30 minutes from the historic district of Fredericksburg and VRE and AMTRAK rail;
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bulletPort Royal is about one hour to downtown Richmond, Va.;
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bulletFort AP Hill is a military training facility; there is occasionally noise from training;
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bulletPort Royal is about 1.5 to 2.5 hours to Washington  DC, depending upon traffic;
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bulletBaltimore is 2 to 2.5 hours, depending upon traffic;
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bulletShopping at a supermarket is about 15 minutes at either King George or Bowling Green;

Above, the Rappahannock River at Port Royal.  There are several places to launch a small boat or kayak.

 

HISTORY

The Property (Timberlake) is all of Lot 23 and Lot 24, as shown below.

 

SOURCE (map and history):  Hidden Village; Port Royal, Virginia; 1744-1981.  Fall, Ralph Emmett; 1982, McClure Printing Company, Inc., Verona, Virginia.

Lot 23

Earliest-known owner here was Richard Lyburn, sometimes spelled Lightburn or Lightbourn(e), in 1787.  In that year Lot 23 was divided in half.  Lewis Jones owned half of Lot 23 in 1787, succeeded by Francis Tupman (1789); John B. Pearson (1789); Judith Lomax (1819); Stephen I. Jones (1827); and Harriet Estes (1830).  These owners are conjectured, as deeds and land tax records often fail to mention lot-numbers in Port Royal property being exchanged.

 Francis Tupman may have been a mariner; his widow Sarah Tupman died in 1810, named as the "relict of the late Capt. Francis Tupman."   Judith Lomax (1744-1828) wrote a diary covering the last eight years of her life, beginning in 1819.  The diary reveals much information about her life and that of her village.  She recorded the names of clergymen who officiated in the town.  In 1820 she reported her pleasure in seeing Christmas trees in local home, one of the earliest such references in Virginia.  But the diary diminished in authenticity due to the editing and additions of a later relative.

Stephen W. Jones (although the correct name seems to have been Stephen I. Jones) announced in 1825 that he was a resident in Port Royal, and as a tailor offered his business "with promptitude and dispatch."   Mrs. Susannah Harriet Estes (c. 1794-1854) was a widow in 1830 and died in 1854.  Her will left her portion of Lot 23 to Phillip H. Pendleton in trust for her granddaughter Georgiana Smith Fitzhugh.

After service in the Revolutionary War, Watts Parker in 1795 owned half of Lot 23 and from Stafford Lightbourn.   In 1815 William Carrick and wife Amanda Carrick owned half the lot.   In 1872 Phebe Carrick (born 1811), daughter of William and Amanda Carrick, lived alone, possibly on Lot 23.  Joseph M. Richeson and wife Georgianna Smith (Fitzhugh) Richeson acquired title to half of Lot 23 in 1872, and sold it in 1882 to Dr. Charles Urquhart Gravatt of adjoining Lot 24.  In 1894 William H. Carrick and wife Lucy T. (Farish) Carrick of Norfolk sold half  of Lot 23 to John Tayloe Thornton of Belle Grove, King George County, who then sold it for $75 to Dr. C. U. Gravatt of Lot 24.

In 1932 Milton deBruin and wife Lena R. (Hicks) deBruin purchased Lot 23, and adjoining Lots 16, 17 and 24 where they lived.  After years of separation from his wife, deBruin died in Pennsylvania in 1977; for several years his widow had been a resident in the Woodmont Nursing Home, Fredericksburg, and died in 1981.  On May 28, 1978 the entire square of four lots was purchased at public auction by Dr. Rogers N. Harris who sold Lots 23 and 24 to Mr. and Mrs. Edward Stehl [who restored the house].

 

  

 

Lot 24

First owner here was "S. Major" (possibly Samuel Major) of Stratton-Major Parish, King and Queen county).  In about 1750 the present small frame cottage was erected of the corner of Market & Caroline Streets, its builder now unknown.  Reuben Gravatt (1785-1825) and wife Lucy (Timberlake) Gravatt owned-occupied Lot 24 in 1817, and had two children: 1) Mary Gravatt married Col. Edward T. Jeffress and lived in Lunenburg County; and 2) John J. Gravatt, M.D. (1817-1886) married Mary Eliz Smith (1820-1920), lacking one month of being age 100).  After medical training at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. J. J. Gravatt lived on Lot 24; in 1851 he erected his medical office on the adjoining Lot 17 [which was moved to the Town Green, 2001]. 

Dr. Gravatt was the first mayor of Port Royal after the Civil War, in 1875, and a vestryman of St. Peter's Church in town for 31 years.  In 1860-1880 the Gravatt household contained himself and his wife; five Gravatt children; Louise Moulton, Nero maid; Mary J. Moulton (age 1); Lucy Jackson (13, negro nurse); Mary J. Gravatt (relative); Mrs. Rueben Gravatt; and Charles Maurice Smith, attorney (relative of Mrs. J. J. Gravatt).  As the Gravatt family increased, so likewise did the size of the house on Lot 24 with many additions to include 15 rooms.

The following were the five Gravatt children:

  1. Mary Cary Ambler Gravatt (1845-1929), unmarried.
  2. Lucy Jacqueline Gravatt (1846-1906) married Gen. Rees Tate Bowen, and had two children:  John Bravatt Bowen (1877-1877); and Mary Cary Bowen married George Turner of Walsingham, King George County, having children:  Jacqueline Fitzhugh Turner living in Marion, Va.; Augustine Bowen Turner; and Rees Bowen Turner (1904-1944).
  3. Charles Urquhart Gravatt, M.D. (1849-1922) married Florence Marshall (1865-1917) of Erie, Pa., and had one child Charles Marshall Gravatt who died as a mining geologist at Asheville, N.C.
  4. John James Gravatt II (1854-1925) became an ordained minister of the Episcopal Church, and married India Wray Jones, having three children: C. U. Gravatt (1880-1880); John James Gravatt III (1881-1965) became Bishop of  Upper South Carolina in 1939; Emily Gravatt (born 1886).
  5. William Loyall Gravatt (1857-1942) married Sidney Peyton, and in 1899 became Bishop of West Virginia; at their deaths in 1942, Bishop & Mrs. W. L. Gravatt were survived by four children:  Thomas Peyton Gravatt; William Loyall Gravatt, Jr.; Anne Cary Gravatt; Mary Elizabeth Gravatt.

The Gravatt families maintained a residence at Port Royal for 115 years. In 1932 Milton deBruin and wife Lena R. (Hicks) deBruin owned the square of lots 16, 17, 23, and 24, and lived in the Gravatt house on Lot 24.  After years of separation from his wife, deBruin died in Pennsylvania in 1977; for several years his widow had been a resident in the Woodmont Nursing Home, Fredericksburg, and died in 1981.  On May 28, 1978 the entire square of four lots was purchased at public auction by Dr. Rogers N. Harris who sold Lots 23 and 24 to Mr. and Mrs. Edward Stehl [who restored the house].

 

 

Below,  A portion of the plat of survey.  Please note the 1760 part of the house is over the property line; apparently, surveyors were either not that accurate and/or the owners never bothered with surveys.

 

 

 

Below, view of the U.S. Army evacuating Port Royal, 1864, Battle of the Wilderness.

Port Royal

 

 

Please NOTE: Information and comments are not guaranteed in terms of accuracy and/or scope.  You are urged to independently verify and investigate any and all information and/or circumstances.

Mr. Alex Long, ALC, CCIM, AICP                  540.371.8700      Licensed in Virginia

Weichert Realtors 1955 Jefferson Davis Hwy, Suite 201; Fredericksburg, VA 22401