Four generations of the historically significant Lee family passed through Stratford Hall, including two signers of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee. Other family members who contributed to the nation’s politics and military were Revolutionary War hero “Light Horse Harry” Lee (1756–1818) and his son Gen. Robert E. Lee, who was born at Stratford in 1807.
The community of Stratford Hall was much larger than the Lee family—about 200 souls larger. It was a village of farmers and artisans that made Stratford Hall one of the most prolific plantations in Colonial America.
The story of Virginia’s Lee family dynasty began in the 17th century when the poor 21-year-old Richard Lee I (circa 1618–1664) left London to seek his fortune in the New World. In 1639, he arrived in Virginia Colony on the same ship as the incoming royal governor, Sir Francis Wyatt—who became his mentor. Over his career, Richard was a merchant, planter, and politician. He secured land patents along the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, which allowed his descendants to become a prominent family in Virginia.
Tradition holds that he, his wife Anna, and their 10 children lived off the land: They raised, gathered, and hunted everything they ate. The Lee family planted nutrient-rich, ancient grains such as spelt, White Lammas Wheat, and corn. While most of the cash crop, including tobacco, were used for export, there would’ve been a certain allotment lobbed for the household use. When Richard died, he was the wealthiest man in the colony—largely from his successful tobacco plantation.
Building the Great Hall
Stratford Hall was unlike many colonial American houses, which were architecturally expanded over time and by multiple generations. With the exception of the exterior stairs, the house we see today was the same structure Thomas and his wife Hannah lived in after it was completed in 1742. All of the builders of Stratford Hall worked under Master Builder William Walker, a Scotsman, to construct the beautifully proportioned symmetrical edifice.
Similar to the construction of the earlier generation’s simple log cabin, the Great House was built almost entirely from materials found onsite. The bricks were molded from local clay and fired in a kiln on the plantation. The beams and joinery were carved from trees felled on Thomas’s land. Oyster shells and sand went into the homemade mortar.
The craftsmen—free men, indentured servants, and enslaved people—included brickmakers and masons, carpenters, wood carvers, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, and saddlers (harness makers). Records dating from 1801 suggest that skilled laborers made and repaired furniture and other wood items onsite in the workshop—including the paneling and carved woodwork seen in the Great House.
Keeping the Hearth Warm
Head cook Richard Mynatt came to Stratford Hall as an indentured servant on Feb. 12, 1749. The 20-year-old English immigrant signed on for four years at 8 pounds sterling salary per year. But Mynatt’s services were apparently so valued that the terms of his servitude weren’t honored when it came time for them to end. He successfully sued to obtain his freedom.
After his release, he moved two counties away, where he married Sarah Cummings. Later, Mynatt served in the Continental Army. He was a courier for Gen. Washington and enlisted in two tours of duty in the Revolutionary War.
The Healing Garden
The extensive gardens of Stratford Hall provided more than just ornamental beauty. Herbs were essential for flavoring and preserving food as well as for medicinal purposes. In a world without refrigeration, they also masked parts of a meal that were beginning to spoil. Horehound was popular for upset stomachs and coriander was used for gastrointestinal problems and bad breath. Sassafras was common for dental hygiene and cinquefoil, an astringent, was used for menopausal night sweats. All these herbs were grown in the typical colonial-period house garden. In this manner, the garden also served as a pharmacy.
Fabric dyes were also harvested from home-grown plants. Queen Anne’s Lace, sunflower, marigold, and goldenrod provided yellow dye. Blue and purple pigment came from indigo, mulberries, elderberries, and blackberries. Reds were extracted from chokeberry, browns came from black walnut husks, and green hues were from lily of the valley, snapdragon, and lilac. Onsite bees not only provided pollination for the gardens, but their healthful honey was also used as a sweetener.
Farm Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Energy
As long as there was a steady flow of water, there was readily available power at Stratford Hall’s grist mill. With power provided via the great overshot wheel, the grist mill ground flour and meal for the plantation and surrounding neighbors on the Northern Neck peninsula.
Old-world hydropower provides a fascinating look at free and sustainable energy. To operate and turn the overshot wheel, water from the millrace flowed into the buckets encircling the wheel, adding weight and causing the wheel to slowly turn. When the buckets full of water reached the bottom of the wheel, the water poured out and the lighter side of the wheel rose. Power was transferred from the wheel’s great shaft to the grinding stone by a series of wooden gears.
After the Civil War, a steam engine was added to power the mill in case a dry period rendered it unable to operate. Stratford Hall’s grist mill continued to operate until 1906. It fell into ruin but was restored in 1939. Today, cornmeal and grits ground at the mill can be purchased from the Stratford Hall gift shop.
A homestead such as the Lee’s Stratford Hall wouldn’t have been possible without the availability of abundant funds, indentured servants, and a multitude of children. However, smaller-scale family or community farms have proven to be just as lucrative. The Amish still practice many of these old-world methods today, coming together where large amounts of labor are needed, but otherwise operating their own small, sustainable farms.
Homesteading has become a popular trend in our modern era and families are beginning to look back at their ancestors for clues on how human society flourished before becoming reliant on fragile systems. To cultivate a connection with the land and food is a rewarding yet strenuous process. But, it’s ultimately what defines our sovereignty and freedom.
