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Peyton Randolph House

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Peyton Randolph House
Peyton Randolph House.jpg
Peyton Randolph House is located in Virginia
Peyton Randolph House
Peyton Randolph House is located in the United States
Peyton Randolph House
LocationCorner of Nicholson and N. England Sts., Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia
Coordinates37°16′19″N 76°42′0″W / 37.27194°N 76.70000°W / 37.27194; -76.70000Coordinates: 37°16′19″N 76°42′0″W / 37.27194°N 76.70000°W / 37.27194; -76.70000
Built1715 (1715)
Architectural styleGeorgian
Part ofWilliamsburg Historic District (ID66000925[1])
NRHP reference No.70000863
VLR No.137-0032
Significant dates
Added to NRHPApril 15, 1970[1]"National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
Designated NHLApril 15, 1970[3]
Designated NHLDCPOctober 9, 1960
Designated VLRSeptember 18, 1973[2]

The Peyton Randolph House, also known as the Randolph-Peachy House, is a historic house museum in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Its oldest portion dating to about 1715, it is one of the museum's oldest surviving buildings. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973 as the home of Peyton Randolph (1721–1775), the first and third President of the Continental Congress.

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Historic house museum

Historic house museum

A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a variety of standards, including those of the International Council of Museums. Houses are transformed into museums for a number of different reasons. For example, the homes of famous writers are frequently turned into writer's home museums to support literary tourism.

Colonial Williamsburg

Colonial Williamsburg

Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia. Its 301-acre (122 ha) historic area includes several hundred restored or recreated buildings from the 18th century, when the city was the capital of the Colony of Virginia; 17th-century, 19th-century, and Colonial Revival structures; and more recent reconstructions. The historic area includes three main thoroughfares and their connecting side streets that attempt to suggest the atmosphere and the circumstances of 18th-century Americans. Costumed employees work and dress as people did in the era, sometimes using colonial grammar and diction.

Virginia

Virginia

Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. Its geography and climate are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay. The state's capital is Richmond. Its most-populous city is Virginia Beach, and Fairfax County is the state's most-populous political subdivision. Virginia's population in 2022 was over 8.68 million, with 35% living within in the Greater Washington metropolitan area.

National Historic Landmark

National Historic Landmark

A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500, or roughly three percent, of over 90,000 places listed on the country's National Register of Historic Places are recognized as National Historic Landmarks.

Peyton Randolph

Peyton Randolph

Peyton Randolph was an American politician and planter who was a Founding Father of the United States. Born into Virginia's wealthiest and most powerful family, Randolph served as speaker of Virginia's House of Burgesses, president of the first two Virginia Conventions, and president of the First Continental Congress. He also served briefly as president of the Second Continental Congress.

Continental Congress

Continental Congress

The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. The term "Continental Congress" most specifically refers to the First and Second Congresses of 1774–1781 and, at the time, was also used to refer to the Congress of the Confederation of 1781–1789, which operated as the first national government of the United States until being replaced under the Constitution of the United States. Thus, the term covers the three congressional bodies of the Thirteen Colonies and the new United States that met between 1774 and 1789.

Description and history

Portraits of Peyton Randolph and wife, Betty Randolph
Portraits of Peyton Randolph and wife, Betty Randolph

The Randolph House is located in near the center of Colonial Williamsburg, at the northeast corner of Nicholson and North England Streets. It is a two-story wood-frame structure, appearing as a seven-bay main block with a single-story ell to the east. The main block is capped by a roof that is hipped at the western end and gabled at the eastern. The main entrance is set in the center bay, sheltered by a gabled hood. Windows are arranged slightly out of symmetry, a product of the building's construction history. The building interior retains original 18th century woodwork, and a marble fireplace mantel in its central section.[4]

The oldest portion of the house is the western half of the main block, which was built about 1715 by William Robertson. It was purchased by Sir John Randolph in 1724, who also purchased a lot to the east, where he built a second house. Randolph's son Peyton joined the two structures together by building the middle section. The eastern section did not have internal access to the rest of the house, and may have been used by the younger Randolph as an office. The western section of the house originally had a fully hipped roof, and the area between it and the middle section's gable was used as a water collection area, housing a cistern that is still found in the building's attic.[4]

During the American Civil War, the home was owned by the Peachy Family, and was used as a hospital for Union and Confederate troops wounded during the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5, 1862.[5]

The building was restored by Colonial Williamsburg 1938–1940. The original east wing, in poor condition, was torn down and a reconstruction built. That area was determined to contain at least two Native American Indian burial sites and pottery. These graves were disturbed during the construction of the tunnel for the Colonial National Parkway in 1941.

In 1970 the house was declared a National Historic Landmark, for its well-preserved early 18th-century architecture, and for its association with prominent Randolph family.[3][4]

Discover more about Description and history related topics

Peyton Randolph

Peyton Randolph

Peyton Randolph was an American politician and planter who was a Founding Father of the United States. Born into Virginia's wealthiest and most powerful family, Randolph served as speaker of Virginia's House of Burgesses, president of the first two Virginia Conventions, and president of the First Continental Congress. He also served briefly as president of the Second Continental Congress.

John Randolph (politician)

John Randolph (politician)

Sir John Randolph was an American politician. He was a Speaker of the House of Burgesses, an Attorney General for the Colony of Virginia, and the youngest son of William Randolph and Mary Isham.

Cistern

Cistern

A cistern is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by their waterproof linings. Modern cisterns range in capacity from a few litres to thousands of cubic metres, effectively forming covered reservoirs.

American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union and the Confederacy, the latter formed by states that had seceded. The central cause of the war was the dispute over whether slavery would be permitted to expand into the western territories, leading to more slave states, or be prevented from doing so, which was widely believed would place slavery on a course of ultimate extinction.

Battle of Williamsburg

Battle of Williamsburg

The Battle of Williamsburg, also known as the Battle of Fort Magruder, took place on May 5, 1862, in York County, James City County, and Williamsburg, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the first pitched battle of the Peninsula Campaign, in which nearly 41,000 Federals and 32,000 Confederates were engaged, fighting an inconclusive battle that ended with the Confederates continuing their withdrawal.

National Historic Landmark

National Historic Landmark

A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500, or roughly three percent, of over 90,000 places listed on the country's National Register of Historic Places are recognized as National Historic Landmarks.

Source: "Peyton Randolph House", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, July 4th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peyton_Randolph_House.

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References
  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Peyton Randolph House". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  4. ^ a b c James Dillon (October 23, 1974). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Peyton Randolph House; Randolph-Peachy House" (pdf). National Park Service. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) and Accompanying three photos, exterior, from 1972 (32 KB)
  5. ^ Hudson, Carson. Civil War Williamsburg. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, 1997. Print.
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