by Marjorie Mckinstry-Miller

Created on: January 15, 2007   Last Updated: April 18, 2011

Among the historic gems prevalent throughout Hanover and King William Counties is Scotchtown, a plantation house most well known as the home from which Patrick Henry, in March of 1775, mounted his horse and rode to Richmond to deliver the impassioned lines, "I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"

The house and many of its outbuildings were originally built around 1719 by Charles Chiswell, a gentleman who emigrated from Scotland in the late 1600s. Chiswell envisioned a community of Scots living together, much like the Ulster Scots in Ireland, and thus he built a large home, a mill and a tannery. Around a central courtyard, Scottish laborers also built a schoolhouse, a kitchen, a plantation store, and a blacksmith shop, among others. Some historians believe that Chiswell also intended to build a castle those plans were dismissed when many of the workers returned to Scotland in fear that a recent illness sweeping through the community might actually be a plague.

Today the original home still stands, thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Leslie Campbell and the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA). The home was restored to its 18th century appearance in the 1950s, and is now surrounded by reproductions of the original icehouse, kitchen, and law office. Upon entering the compound, visitors are transported back to the 1770s, the decade when Patrick Henry and his family, including his first cousin, Dolley Madison, called Scotchtown home. Sadly, these weren't the happiest years for the Henry family; Sarah Henry, Patrick's first wife and the mother of six of his 17 children, succumbed to mental illness and died there in 1775. Her last years were spent confined to a basement apartment, which, tragic as it may seem, was far better than residing in one of the "hospitals" for the mentally ill of the time.

If you'd like to visit Scotchtown, one of the oldest surviving Colonial Plantation Homes, check out their website, www.apva.org/scotchtown or call 804-227-3500 for admission information. Scotchtown is located off of Route 54 between Ashland and Beaverdam, Virginia.

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