Corotoman was a 17th and 18th century

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

on the

Rappahannock River The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 It traverses the entir ...

in Lancaster County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Corotoman was the residence of

Robert Carter I Robert "King" Carter (4 August 1663 – 4 August 1732) was a merchant, planter and powerful politician in Colony of Virginia, colonial Virginia. Born in Lancaster County, Virginia, Lancaster County, Carter eventually became one of the List of r ...

(1662/63 – 4 August 1732), a

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

Governor of Virginia The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022. Oath of office On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...

and one of the wealthiest men in the

British colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Corotoman was located on a point overlooking the

, and flanked by

Carter's Creek Carter's, Inc. is a major American designer and marketer of children's apparel. It was founded in 1865 by William Carter. Carter's sells its products through its own Carter's and OshKosh B'gosh retail stores, its website, and in other retail ...

and

Corrotoman River Located in Lancaster County, Virginia, the Corrotoman River is a tributary of the Rappahannock River, flowing into the Chesapeake Bay. Along with its sister waterways, the Corrotoman River has important cultural and historical significance in t ...

to its east and west respectively.

History

Earliest inhabitants

Corotoman was first inhabited by the Cuttatwomen Native American

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

several hundred years before the arrival of

English colonists The colonial history of the United States covers the history of European colonization of North America from the early 17th century until the incorporation of the Thirteen Colonies into the United States after the American Revolutionary War, ...

to Lancaster County, Virginia.

John Carter I

John Carter I, the patriarch of the Carter family of Virginia, purchased and settled Corotoman between 1652 and 1653. Carter developed and improved the lands into a plantation and constructed the first structures on the property before his death in 1669. Carter's mansion, known as the "Old House", was built in the traditional 17th century hall-parlor plan with a porch chamber.

Robert Carter I

Corotoman was then inherited by Carter's son

(whose wealth and autocratic business methods led to his becoming known by the nickname "King") in 1690. Under Robert Carter I's ownership, Corotoman became the center of what developed into a estate of 48 plantations and farms including places such as Indian Town and Hills Quarters.

Construction

Robert Carter began construction of the large

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

at Corotoman around 1720. The mansion was completed in 1725, and introduced a new era for early 18th-century architecture in Virginia. Corotoman also set the pattern for 18th-century architectural patronage. The mansion at Corotoman rivaled the other important Colonial mansions of Virginia, and affirmed Robert Carter I's status as the most powerful planter in the aristocracy of the

Tidewater Tidewater may refer to: * Tidewater (region), a geographic area of southeast Virginia, southern Maryland, and northeast North Carolina. ** Tidewater accent, an accent of American English associated with the Tidewater region of Virginia * Tidewater ...

region. Carter's correspondences and diary revealed that the construction of the mansion at Corotoman was a lengthy, complex, and frustrating endeavor. Construction materials for the mansion included paving stones from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

from his plantation

saw mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ( dimens ...

s and from neighboring plantations, and

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...

shells for mortar. For some of the mansion's windows, Carter used

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

casement frames for quarrel glass. To undertake the mansion's construction, Carter imported skilled

indentured servant Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an " indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment ...

s from England and hired local craftsmen.

Gardens

Carter employed an English gardener, whom he instructed "to bring the yards around the mansion into closer accord with the architectural rhythms of the mansion. Little is currently known of the garden's contents and design.

Brick House Store

At Corotoman, Carter maintained a building known as the "Brick House Store" where he kept imported goods that he sold and bartered to local planter. In 1730, an inventory of items at the Brick House Store included essential supplies such as

cloths Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

, tools, and

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

and luxury items such as spices, ivory combs, and brass candlesticks.

Spinster's House

Another supporting structure at Corotoman was known as the "Spinster's House." The house was constructed in either the late 17th century or the early 18th century. The "Spinster's House" was a one-story and a half

frame house Framing, in construction, is the fitting together of pieces to give a structure support and shape. Framing materials are usually wood, engineered wood, or structural steel. The alternative to framed construction is generally called ''mass wall ...

adorned with a

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d roof with large end chimneys. It lay in ruins for years before finally disappearing around 1930. Before its disappearance, the "Spinster's House" was the last remaining supporting structure of the original Corotoman plantation.

Destruction

In 1729, four years after "King" Carter's mansion was completed, a fire destroyed it. Carter made little mention of the mansion fire in his diary, but did lament the total destruction of his

wine cellar A wine cellar is a storage room for wine in bottles or barrels, or more rarely in carboys, amphorae, or plastic containers. In an ''active'' wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control system. ...

. Carter died three years later and the mansion was not rebuilt. An inventory taken in 1732 after Carter's death implies that after the fire, Carter resided in either the "Old House" or the "Spinster's House" at Corotoman rather than rebuild it because of fiscal difficulties or ill health. In the mid-19th century, Corotoman and its adjacent lands passed out of the Carter family when they were sold by a granddaughter of Charles Carter.

Successive ownership

A mansion was rebuilt at Corotoman by successive owners, but was destroyed by fire around 1900. In Spring 2000, the

Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities Founded in 1889, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities was the United States' first statewide historic preservation group. In 2003 the organization adopted the new name APVA Preservation Virginia to reflect a broader focus o ...

acquired the site of Corotoman.

Architecture

Robert Carter I's 1725 Georgian mansion was a two-story

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

dwelling with a two-story

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

, which Carter referred to as a ''piazza''. The mansion measured 90 by . Its central

entrance hall The Entrance Hall (also called the Grand Foyer) is the primary and formal entrance to the White House, the official residence of the president of the United States. The room is rectilinear in shape and measures approximately 31 by 44 feet. ...

was paved in black and white

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

brought to Virginia from

. The entrance hall was flanked by Carter's

bedchamber A bedroom or bedchamber is a room situated within a residential or accommodation unit characterised by its usage for sleeping and sexual activity. A typical western bedroom contains as bedroom furniture one or two beds (ranging from a crib for ...

and a lavishly decorated

parlor A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necessar ...

, both with large closets. Along the mansion's façade against the Rappahannock River ran a gallery. Below the gallery was an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

and three pavilions. While the mansion was destroyed by fire four years after its completion, the "Spinster's House" on the Corotoman estate survived until around 1930.

Archaeology

In 1978,

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

s led by Dr. Carter Hudgins and the

Virginia Department of Historic Resources The Virginia Department of Historic Resources is the State Historic Preservation Office for the Commonwealth of Virginia. The agency maintains the Virginia Landmarks Register (the first step for properties and districts in Virginia seeking listin ...

excavated the foundations of Robert Carter I's Georgian mansion at Corotoman. The archaeology undertaken also confirmed a single-pile house of 40 by including a

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

that measured 10 by . The mansion's foundations were found to be thick. Considerable

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionary ...

was unearthed at Corotoman, including white marble pavers, fragments of dressed stone and rubbed brick,

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

tile, Chinese

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

tankard A tankard is a form of drinkware consisting of a large, roughly cylindrical, drinking cup with a single handle. Tankards are usually made of silver or pewter, but can be made of other materials, for example wood, ceramic, or leather. A tankard ...

s, and over 1,000 wine bottles. Artifacts unearthed at Corotoman are currently displayed at the Christ Church museum.

References

External links

Corotoman, Rappahannock River, Weems, Lancaster County, VA
1 photo, 1 measured drawing, and 6 data pages at

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

{{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia Carter family residences Houses in Lancaster County, Virginia Houses completed in 1725 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Georgian architecture in Virginia Plantation houses in Virginia

Archaeological sites in Virginia This is a listing of sites of archaeological interest in the state of Virginia, in the United States. {{Commons cat, Archaeological sites in Virginia Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlant ...

Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Colonial architecture in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Lancaster County, Virginia 1652 establishments in Virginia Burned houses in the United States