Ditchley is a historic

plantation house A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and e ...

located near

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

Northumberland County, Virginia Northumberland County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 11,839. Its county seat is Heathsville. The county is located on the Northern Neck and is part of the Northern Neck George Washin ...

. It was built in 1762, and is a two-story,

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 ...

style brick mansion with a hipped roof. It consists of a five bay main block flanked by one-story wings. The house was renovated and modernized in the 1930s by noted philanthropist

Jessie Ball duPont Jessie Ball duPont (January 20, 1884 – September 26, 1970) was an American teacher, philanthropist and designated a Great Floridian by the Florida Department of State.smokehouse A smokehouse (North American) or smokery (British) is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with t ...

s and the Lee family

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

and site of a kitchen building. an
''Accompanying photo''
/ref> Original built in 1687. This plantation was a grant to Col.

Richard Lee I Richard Lee I (1618 – 1 March 1664) (later nicknamed "The Immigrant") was the first member of the Lee family to live in America (although he also considered himself an English gentleman). Poor when he arrived in Virginia in 1639 on a ship ...

and was named for a Lee estate near Oxford, England. House was built by Kendall Lee, grandson of Richard Lee and son of Captain

Hancock Lee Hancock Lee (born 1653 - May 25, 1709) was an American colonial politician. He was a member of the House of Burgesses, a Justice of Northampton County, and a naval officer. Biography Hancock Lee was born to Richard Lee I, Esq., in 1653. He was ju ...

, Hon. (1653–1709) and Mary Kendall (1661–1694). It was listed on 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 v ...

in 1992.

References

External links

Ditchley, State Route 607, Ditchley, Northumberland County, VA
19 photos and 3 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 ...

Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia Lee family residences Plantation houses in Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Georgian architecture in Virginia Houses completed in 1762 Houses in Northumberland County, Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Northumberland County, Virginia {{NorthumberlandCountyVA-NRHP-stub