Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
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VLR Listing Date 09/09/1969
NRHP Listing Date 11/12/1969
NHL Listing Date 04/15/1970
DHR Virginia Board of Historic Resources Easement
NRHP Reference Number 69000249
This famous exemplar of colonial Virginia’s plantation architecture was built 1750-55 for Carter Burwell, grandson of Robert (“King”) Carter. David Minitree, a bricklayer and James Wheatley, a house carpenter, were the principal builders. The interior woodwork, considered some of the most handsome of the colonial period, was executed in part by Richard Baylis, an English joiner. Carter’s Grove stood essentially unaltered until 1928 when its owners engaged architect W. Duncan Lee to restore and enlarge the house. The roof was heightened, dormers were added, and the dependencies were enlarged and connected to the main house. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation acquired the property in the 1960s. The extensive garden was reconstructed in the 1970s after detailed archaeological investigations. The excavations uncovered the site of Wolstenholme Town, an early-17th-century settlement as well as Burwell farm quarter, which was probably occupied by some twenty enslaved African Americans at the end of the colonial period.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated: June 30, 2021
