Claymont Court, or simply Claymont, is a

Georgian-style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Geor ...

brick mansion, the grandest of several built near

Charles Town, West Virginia Charles Town is a city in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States, and is also the county seat. The population was 5,259 at the 2010 census. It is named for its founder Charles Washington, youngest brother of President George Washington. ...

for members of the

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

family. The current "Big House" was built in 1840 for Bushrod Corbin Washington, nephew of Supreme Court justice

Bushrod Washington Bushrod Washington (June 5, 1762 – November 26, 1829) was an American attorney and politician who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1798 to 1829. On the Supreme Court, he was a staunch ally of Ch ...

and grand-nephew of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

, to replace the 1820 main house on his plantation that burned in 1838. In 1899 author

Frank Stockton Frank Richard Stockton (April 5, 1834 – April 20, 1902) was an American writer and humorist, best known today for a series of innovative children's fairy tales that were widely popular during the last decades of the 19th century. Life Born i ...

purchased the house and lived there until he died in 1902. In 1943, Claymont was bought by West Virginia industrialist Robert Joseph Funkhouser, who at the same time bought the adjacent Blakeley and Cedar Lawn, other Washington descendant houses and large properties. He combined the properties into a estate. In 1974

John G. Bennett John Godolphin Bennett (8 June 1897 – 13 December 1974) was a British academic and author. He is best known for his books on psychology and spirituality, particularly on the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. Bennett met Gurdjieff in Istanbul in ...

purchased Claymont to create an intentional community. It is currently used as a retreat center by the Claymont Society for Continuous Education.

Washington Family era

In the 1700s, the plot of land on which Claymont stands was owned by John Augustine Washington, the brother of George Washington. With the labor of enslaved people under his control, George Washington developed the Bullskin Plantation, the first property he ever owned, a few miles southwest of the Claymont property. In 1811, George Washington's grand-nephew Bushrod Corbin Washington inherited the land, having reached the legal age of 21, and about a decade later had 90 enslaved people build a thirty-four room mansion there. At about the same time, his slightly older brother, John Augustine Washington III, built the Blakeley mansion about 600 yards away and facing Claymont. The two brothers married daughters from the Blackburn family and raised their own families directly across from each other in the Blakeley and Claymont mansions. Bushrod finished building Claymont in 1820 for $30,000, a massive sum at the time. The house became known as "Bushrod's folly." At completion, it was the largest house in the area, and with later additions would become the largest house in West Virginia at with 59 rooms and 25 fireplaces. Claymont may also be the northernmost example of the Virginia Plantation Style mansion; it had wings, courtyards, and dependencies. Claymont burned down in 1838. Bushrod had recently departed for Richmond, where he was serving his first week as an assemblyman in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-number ...

. The fire is believed to have started in the fireplace of the mansion's basement kitchen. The central part of the mansion was completely rebuilt in 1840, and the remainder restored. Bushrod died in 1851, leaving Claymont to his son Thomas Blackburn Washington. Thomas died in 1854, leaving the estate to his eldest son Bushrod Corbin Washington II. The

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

was devastating to the Washington family, many of whom fought for the Confederacy, and others took refuge at Claymont. During the war, Bushrod C. Washington enlisted in the 2nd Virginia Infantry and then the 12th Virginia Cavalry, both

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

units, and ended the war hospitalized in Charlottesville (though upon release he signed the required oath in Winchester and received a federal pardon in 1866). His younger brothers Sgt. George Washington died in battle in 1863, and his youngest brother James Cunningham Washington fought less formally under

John Singleton Mosby John Singleton Mosby (December 6, 1833 – May 30, 1916), also known by his nickname "Gray Ghost", was a Confederate army cavalry battalion commander in the American Civil War. His command, the 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, known as Mosby's ...

, and was captured after conducting raids north into Kentucky and Ohio, and died in a Baltimore prison in 1865. Both of the young men were captured in Claymont Court during

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

furlough (holiday leave) by

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

troops led by

George Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, ...

. As an example of the close history among some officers, he had been a roommate of one of the Washington men when they were both cadets at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

military academy. The camps were rife with disease due to overcrowding and poor sanitation; people did not know how to handle these conditions. As punishment to Claymont estate for "harboring guerrillas", General Sheridan ordered all of the

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

driven off the land (except for one milch cow) and every fence surrounding the estate's Clay Mound farm burned down. After the Civil War, the reconstructionist government demanded payment of

back taxes Back taxes is a term for taxes that were not completely paid when due. Typically, these are taxes that are owed from a previous year. Causes for back taxes include failure to pay taxes by the deadline, failure to correctly report one's income, or ...

for all of the years that the Washington family had paid taxes to the Confederacy rather than the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

. Like many other families, the Washington family were short on cash, struggling with agricultural decline, and could not pay the taxes. By 1871 the family was forced to sell Claymont estate for the modest sum of $10,000 (a third of what it cost to build). Most of the family moved to the Pacific Northwest and the territory of

, which was not admitted as a state until 1889. After the Washingtons vacated Claymont, the property changed hands a number of times. As the mansion and larger estate was unoccupied for a few years at a time, the property began to deteriorate due to reduced maintenance, and the farming operations halted. Claymont operated as a self-sustaining farm, differing from plantations in the deeper American South, which had been based on producing commodity crops. Claymont produced almost everything the inhabitants used. Before the Civil War, the owners held nearly one hundred enslaved people as well as a couple

dozen A dozen (commonly abbreviated doz or dz) is a grouping of twelve. The dozen may be one of the earliest primitive integer groupings, perhaps because there are approximately a dozen cycles of the Moon, or months, in a cycle of the Sun, or year ...

free workers to accomplish all the work. Because of Claymont's size, it was an expensive operation to keep up. The transition to the use of free labor, especially during decades of continuing decline in the agricultural market, made it difficult for owners to make enough revenue to keep the estate operational.

Owners after the Washington Family

After the Washingtons sold the property, there were a number of successive owners of Claymont: *1871-1886: Clement March *1886-1889: Charles Dawson ::Dawson hired William A. Bates, an architect from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to redesign the mansion, enlarging it significantly. Both the ballroom wing and the dining room wings were enlarged to their current size of 32x36 feet. A second story was added to both wings, which included bedrooms and bathrooms. *1889-1906: Frank R. Stockton ::Stockton was a popular author at the time and wrote three books while residing at Claymont. He is best known for his short story " The Lady, or the Tiger?". *1906-1943: Col. S.J. Murphy ::Murphy rebuilt and refined Claymont's old gardens with the help of Conklyn Brothers Landscape Architects and Hydraulic Engineers of

. He added a pergola and large fountain to the gardens, among other changes. *1943-1972: R.J. (Raymond Joseph) Funkhouser (1885-1965) ::Funkhouser was a prominent West Virginia industrialist who owned or controlled 18 companies, including numerous businesses and manufacturing concerns in the state."R.J. Funkhouser, Industrialist, 79, Dies"
''New York Times'', 11 March 1968; accessed 20 October 2018 He retired at 50, and purchased and restored several old Washington homes of Jefferson County. He bought Cedar Lawn, Blakeley, and Claymont and combined them into one property (the estates are all contiguous). Funkhouser used Claymont as his private residence. The grounds and gardens were meticulously tended during this period. *1972-1975: J. Glenn Brown ::Brown had purchased Blakeley Mansion. (He was the son of DuPont executive J. Thompson Brown.) He and his family lived at Blakeley from 1954-1979. He sold Claymont along with 418 acres to the Claymont Society in 1975. The deed of sale included easement restrictions that preserved the property from development. *1975–present: The Claymont Society for Continuous Education ::John G. Bennett, an English philosopher and scientist, led a

non profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

. It purchased Claymont to establish an intentional community. Today, what is known as The Claymont Society for Continuous Education continues as a non-profit focused on lifelong learning and principles of sustainability.

Description

Claymont Court is unusually large, and was particularly expensive, reputed to have cost #30,000 when constructed. The design may have been derived from an illustration in Robert Morris's ''Select Architecture:Being Regular Designs of Plans and Elevations Well Suited to Both Town and Country'', published in 1755. The two-story brick house is arranged with a transverse hall, linking the house's wings with the main block.

Current use

Of the eight remaining Washington family homes in Jefferson County, Claymont is considered the grandest. At , it is also the largest. In 1973, Claymont was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

, a

US government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

list of buildings and structures deemed worthy of preservation. Today, Claymont operates as a non-profit retreat center run by The Claymont Society for Continuous Education. Its members focus on the systematic philosophical and psychological teachings of

. While Bennett was alive, Claymont operated as a nine-month

Fourth Way The Fourth Way is an approach to self-development developed by George Gurdjieff over years of travel in the East (c. 1890 – 1912). It combines and harmonizes what he saw as three established traditional "ways" or "schools": those of the body, ...

school focused on his specific teachings, which dealt with techniques of

self-reflection Self-reflection is the ability to witness and evaluate our own cognitive, emotional, and behavioural processes. In psychology, other terms used for this self-observation include 'reflective awareness', and 'reflective consciousness', which orig ...

, self-development, and spirituality, a systems discipline called Systematics, and achieving a sustainable relationship with nature. After Bennett died in December 1974, the nine-month basic course project continued for a few years under the direction of his students but was eventually discontinued. Claymont was adapted to be used as a non-profit retreat center for many different spiritual groups, healthcare professionals, meditation groups, environmental groups, professional dancers, and more. Its residential rooms were retrofitted with showers; utilities were updated for hot water, electricity, natural gas, and

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wav ...

. The mansion proper serves as the retreat center. The non-profit maintains a strong focus on

organic farming Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...

, buying

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

, and sustainability. Claymont hosts

WWOOF World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF, ), or World Wide Organization of Organic Farms, is a loose network of national organizations that facilitate homestays on organic farms. , Australia with 2,600 hosts has the most host farms an ...

ers to work on the grounds and help with local agriculture in exchange for free food and lodging. A nearby cattle barn has been converted into a conference center. In addition, much of the estate grounds are currently maintained, including the front and rear mansion lawns. The old gardens, however, which were damaged in a storm, have proven too difficult to maintain. They are not in use. The Claymont Society for Continuous Education advocates strongly for Claymont Court's continuing physical restoration. Claymont has received grant money for restoration through th
1772 Foundation

Save America's Treasures Save America's Treasures is a United States federal government initiative to preserve and protect historic buildings, arts, and published works. It is a public–private partnership between the U.S. National Park Service and the National Trust fo ...

, Jefferson County Commission, and individual donations. The Claymont Society works in tandem with th
National Park Trust
to lobby for continuing preservation grants. Among recent restorations, the mansion has a completely rebuilt second-floor veranda, new support beams for the main ballroom, and new window seals and gutter systems. The mansion can still be considered under restoration, though it is fully operational with all utilities.

Gallery

Claymont from Rear Lawn.jpg, A wedding rehearsal on the rear terrace of the mansion Claymont Foyer.jpg, Foyer. The pine flooring of the house is of high tar content and thought to be termite resistant. Claymont Dining Room.jpg, A view of the main dining room Claymont Dependencies.jpg, The sun room of a newly restored dependency of the mansion Claymont Bedrooms.jpg, A dependency of the mansion, which was converted into a dormitory for retreat guests Claymont Butterfly.jpg, Butterfly on the estate grounds Claymont Help Stairs.jpg, A secret, small staircase winds from the kitchen to an upstairs parlor. It was used by the Claymont staff. Claymont Library.jpg, Library Claymont Parlor.jpg, Parlor Claymont Retrofit.jpg, A dependency of the mansion with newly restored brick, support beams, and retrofitted with electricity Claymont Kitchen.jpg, The mansion has a fully operational, industrial-grade kitchen located in the basement. The original kitchen, where the 1838 fire was thought to have started, has been converted to use as a pantry and washroom. Claymont Mansion w Dependency.jpg, The mansion shown with dependency to the left

Citations

References

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External links

* * {{National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia American Civil War sites in West Virginia Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Georgian architecture in West Virginia Houses completed in 1840 Houses in Jefferson County, West Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Jefferson County, West Virginia in the American Civil War National Register of Historic Places in Jefferson County, West Virginia Plantation houses in West Virginia Washington family residences Historic American Buildings Survey in West Virginia Buildings and structures in Charles Town, West Virginia