History of Annefield

On a low hill about four miles southwest of Berryville looms the graceful mansion “Annefield.” This elegantly finished mansion is one of Virginia’s grandest works of Federal architecture. Erected ca. 1790, Annefield was the home of Matthew Page, who named the place for his wife, Anne Randolph Meade Page, sister of Bishop William Meade. Annefield was later owned by Thomas Carter, whose son William Page Carter was a Virginia poet. The house epitomizes the high architectural quality of the plantation houses built in Virginia’s northern counties by members of Tidewater families who moved into this fertile region in the late 18th century. The rugged limestone walls set off the delicate Ionic portico and its Chinese lattice railing. The elaborate woodwork and composition ornaments of its spacious interiors are based on designs in 18th-century English pattern books by William Pain.

It was the birthplace in 1808 of Mary Anne Randolph Custis, great-grandchild of Martha Washington and the future wife of General Robert E. Lee. Mary Anne’s mother rode from Arlington, Virginia in General Washington’s famous Italian “State” coach before giving birth. She scarcely decended before the old Mount Vernon carriage, overstrained while crossing the mountains, fell apart and had to be abandoned on the estate grounds.

Annefield was built of large, irregular blocks of native blue limestone quarried on the 2,280-acre estate. Carefully dressed, the stones were set in place under the seven-year supervision of Matthew Page. The mansion was completed in 1799.

Annefield is considered architecturally distinctive among formal stone structures, with a double-decked portico and Ionic columns supporting a board deck roof. The interior is equally notable for its expertly carved woodwork used lavishly throughout the house with different designs for each room and hall. It is said to be the work of Hessian artisans captured with General Burgoyne at Saratoga. Interned in Winchester in 1780–1781, many of the mercenary soldier-prisoners were skilled in various crafts. So greatly admired were their skills that many Americans helped the Hessians to escape, or purchased their releases. Most of the Hessians remained to practice their handicrafts throughout the Shenandoah Valley – especially at Annefield.

Winter View of Annefield

Source: Valleys of History, a publication of Potomac Edison, Volume 4, No. 3, published summer, 1968, pages 2–11.

Source:(21-02) VLR: 09/09/69; NRHP; 11/17/69.

For more information: http://www.clarkehistory.org