Stratford Hall Plantation
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Stratford Hall Plantation was the birth place of Robert E. Lee, General-in-Chief of the Confederate armies. The brick, Georgian Great House is located near Stratford, Virginia in Westmoreland County, on the Potomac River.
In 1717, the land for Stratford Hall Plantation was purchased by Thomas Lee. Thomas had a wharf and grist mill built on Stratford Landing on the Potomac River. Thomas and wife Hannah raised six sons and two daughters. Two of the son's, Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee were signers the Declaration of Independence. They were the only brothers to sign the document. The eldest son, Philip Ludwell Lee inherited Stratford. After Philip Ludwell Lee's death in 1775, his eldest dauther Matilda took over the plantation. She married her cousin, Revolutionary War hero, Henry Lee III. He is most notabley known as Light Horse Harry Lee. In 1790, Matilda died leaving the estate to her husband. "Light Horse Harry" Lee married Anne Hill Carter in 1793. On January 19, 1807 their fourth child, Robert E. Lee was born. He was the last Lee born at Stratford to survive to maturity.
