Lee Hall or Lee Hall Mansion is a historic brick

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 ...

that was built during the period from 1848 to 1859. The community of

Lee Hall, Virginia Lee Hall is an unincorporated town located in the extreme western portion of the independent city of Newport News in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. History Lee Hall, located in the former Warwick County, was named for nearb ...

is named for it. The house and village are located near the junction of U.S. 60 and VA 238, in

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

. The current property 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 1972. The listed property includes two

contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

: The Main House (open to the public) and the former Kitchen (closed to public, used as staff offices).Two photos accompanying National Register nomination
/ref> The house as well as the nearby community of Lee Hall were named for

Richard Decatur Lee Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...

the original owner and builder of Lee Hall Mansion. Lee was a prominent local planter. Despite having the same last name as Virginia native and Confederate general

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...

, a direct lineage to General Lee cannot be traced. Lee Hall Mansion was used as headquarters for

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

generals

Joseph E. Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston (February 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) was an American career army officer, serving with distinction in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and the Seminole Wars. After Virginia seceded ...

and

John B. Magruder John Bankhead Magruder (May 1, 1807 – February 18, 1871) was an American and Confederate military officer. A graduate of West Point, Magruder served with distinction during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and was a prominent Confede ...

during the Peninsula Campaign of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

in 1862. Nearby is

Endview Plantation Endview Plantation (Harwood Plantation) is an 18th-century plantation which is located on Virginia State Route 238 in the Lee Hall community in the northwestern area of the independent city of Newport News, Virginia. History Earlier known as th ...

, a 238-year-old house. Endview was used as a hospital during the Civil War and as a campground during the Revolutionary War, the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

and the Civil War.

References

External links

Lee Hall Mansion
- official site Plantation houses in Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Houses completed in 1859 Houses in Newport News, Virginia Museums in Newport News, Virginia Historic house museums in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Newport News, Virginia {{NewportNewsVA-NRHP-stub