|
TIMBERLAKE MANOR
circa 1760, 1840, and 1908-1910
Also known as the
"Gravatt House", named after the Dr. Gravatt family; occupied
1817-1932
You buy the
property - you can call it whatever you want.
Port Royal, Virginia - an historic little town on the Rappahannock
River;
- Port Royal is an incorporated town governed by an elected town
council, from which the mayor is elected;
- Port Royal is about 75 acres in size;
- Port Royal is entirely upon both the State and National
Registers of Historic Places;
- Port Royal is about 25 to 30 minutes from the historic district
of Fredericksburg and VRE and AMTRAK rail;
- Port Royal is about one hour to downtown Richmond, Va.;
- Fort AP Hill is a military training facility; there is
occasionally noise and sometimes vibrations from training;
- Port Royal is about 1.5 to 2.5 hours to Washington DC,
depending upon traffic;
- Baltimore is 2 to 2.5 hours, depending upon traffic;
- Shopping at a supermarket is about 15 minutes at either King
George or Bowling Green;
double click to enlarge
Timberlake is:
- within 100 yards of a 125 acre U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Refuge fronting upon the Rappahannock River;
- across Frederick Street from Townfield, which is under an historic easement protecting that property;
Below, winter 2009-2010; 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.
- Several owners of properties in the immediate area of Timberlake,
including the owner of Timberlake are pursuing making easements to the Virginia Department of Historic
Resources to protect those properties. The owner will sell
Timberlake subject to the terms and conditions of an easement to the
Virginia Department of Historic Resources. More information on
easements can be obtained at:
http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/easement/easement.htm
double click to enlarge
The house is on one acre featuring mature landscaping of
large hardwoods.
About 6,300 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.
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.
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: $585,000
Shown by Appointment only, several days notice is appreciated: Alex Long, 540.371.8700.
Please note: the owner has a home business (the property is
zoned residential) taking up much space. The business should be
relocated to a new location by October. Please see past the material.
Above, sketch from 1978. The 'vault, grave of Dr. Gravatt was
relocated to the church yard. The house was then improved/
restored.
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:
- Mary Cary Ambler Gravatt (1845-1929), unmarried.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
|
Copyright
2007 All rights reserved.