Romancoke is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

King William County King William County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,810. Its county seat is King William. King William County is located in the Middle Peninsula and is included in the Greater ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, United States. Romancoke was a plantation initially developed by William Claiborne in the 17th century, and inherited by his burgess sons William Claiborne Jr. then Thomas Claiborne. Eventually, in the early 19th century,

George Washington Parke Custis George Washington Parke Custis (April 30, 1781 – October 10, 1857) was an American antiquarian, author, playwright, and slave owner. He was a veteran of the War of 1812. His father John Parke Custis served in the American Revolution wi ...

, father of Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee (wife of Gen.

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

) inherited Romancoke Plantation, as well as Arlington and White House Plantations. His will appointed Gen. Lee as executor, and directed him to manumit approximately 200 slaves within five years of his death (which happened in 1857). The

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and

Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation had the eff ...

intervened, but Gen. Lee fulfilled the clause by December, 1862. Lee's second son, Rooney Lee, managed both White House plantation and nearby Romancoke after resigning his U.S. Army commission. His youngest son, Robert E. Lee, Jr., inherited Romancoke and after the war took up residence (about four miles from

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

References

Unincorporated communities in Virginia Unincorporated communities in King William County, Virginia {{KingWilliamCountyVA-geo-stub