Blandfield

Route 17 & State Route 624, Beverley Lane, Caret, Essex County, Virginia

Built 1769-73, for Robert Beverley (1740-1800) and his wife, Maria Carter (1744-1817). Set back from the Rappahanock River, this excellent example of Georgian architecture is one of the largest colonial plantation houses in Virginia and was built on land granted to the Beverley family in 1683. The architect is unknown, but the plan for the Palladian house was adapted from specific plates in James Gibb's influential Book of Architecture (1728). Drum House in Scotland is also mentioned to have played a part in its inspiration. Blandfield remained the country seat of the Beverley family up until 1983. Since then, the mansion and 4,000-acre plantation has been in the possession of the Wheat family who hire it out as an events venue and hold hunts in the grounds....

This house is best associated with...

Robert Beverley

Robert Beverley, J.P., of "Blandfield" Essex Co., Virginia

1740-1800

Maria (Carter) Beverley

Mrs Maria Byrd (Carter) Beverley

1744-1817

Robert Beverley

Robert Beverley, of Washington D.C. & "Blandfield" Essex Co., Virginia

1769-1843

Jane (Tayloe) Beverley

Mrs Jane (Tayloe) Beverley, of "Blandfield" Virginia

1774-1816

The Beverleys eldest son, William, decided to move to England at which point his younger brother, Robert, felt compelled to return from his studies there to help their father at Blandfield. When their father died in 1800 there was something of a "storm" between the thirteen inheritors but Robert managed to keep the estate in tact. He married Jane Tayloe of Mount Airy and they lived between Blandfield and Washington D.C. After Robert died, his eldest son, William, retained Blandfield while also living at Selma. He never married and left Blandfield plus an estimated £275,000 to his nephew, Col. Robert Beverley.

The Colonel's sixth child, Robert Beverley, took ownership of Blandfield and became, "a very large and successful farmer," living here until his death in 1928. His second son, Robert Bland Beverley (1882-1957), took over the management of Blandfield on behalf of his brother, Welby, and the heirs of his brother, Carter, by which two interests it was jointly owned. In 1983, after 300-years of being in the Beverley family, the subsequent generation of Beverleys sold up to the Wheat family in whose possession it remains today.

You May Also Like...

https://rs.locationshub.com/Home/Mosaic?rsLocationId=009-10022937
http://www.blandfieldplantation.com/pages/history.main.html
https://archive.org/details/beverleyfamilyof00mcgi/page/552/mode/2up

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