By Silas Gwathmey

I grew up on a farm in King William, Virginia, named Burlington Plantation. Like most children who were raised on a farm, I spent almost all of my days exploring the woods and even old buildings on the property, with no knowledge of the significance of any of the home’s assets and the role it played in the history of early America. My siblings and I spent our childhood searching for remnants of personal articles and old farming equipment on the property.

Old picture of the front of the house.

When I was old enough to understand the history of the farm and, in general, the history of the Civil War, I started to appreciate and try to protect the life story of the property. When asked why I live so far away from Collegiate, or why I don’t move closer to my life activities and friends, I think about what the house means to me and my family, and I am appreciative of where I live. Burlington has become a person in my eyes. Something that is filled with culture and stories from generations of family and even American history. 

The front of the house today. 

Burlington was originally a part of the Burwell Grant until 1752, when the Gwathmey family purchased the property. Joseph Gwathmey, my great, great, great-grandfather was the original Gwathmey owner of the plantation. The property consists of 1,343 acres next to the Mattaponi River in King William. The house sits on a hilltop overlooking the farm’s growing fields. 

  Side view of house (top). Hillside with fields (bottom).

Within view of the house, you can see a family cemetery, where the Gwathmey family has buried many close friends and family. Behind the house, you will see a 19th-century Dogwood Garden and the original smokehouse. 

Boxwoods in the snow.

Below the hillside, there is an old barn that was declared the original meeting place for Buelah Baptist Church in 1812. Many slaves and African-Americans were members of this church. In fact, three of the church’s elders were African-Americans, and one of them was owned by Joseph Gwathmey. Free African-Americans and slaves could be baptized at Buelah Baptist. 

The house was originally a Colonial frame dwelling, which is the old style for building a house, and it consisted of a simple, near minimalist rectangular frame for the house. That was just the back portion of what you see today. In 1842, The Gwathmeys decided to add a front to the house. Dr. William Gwathmey, the owner of the farm at that time, had the front portion built. 

Back of the house with back porch.

Dr. William Gwathmey was a highly-credited doctor. He had the job of being Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s physician throughout the Civil War. Dr. Gwathmey’s father and uncle both fought for the Confederacy. Robert Brooke Gwathmey, his uncle, fought for Lee in Lee’s Rangers, and Joseph B. Gwathmey, his father, served in General J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry. Robert was killed in action, and another brother and his son survived the war and finished their lives working on the farm. 

During the Civil War, while Union Soldiers marched through Virginia, they came through King William County, burning down numerous of the farms and plantations. The soldiers came upon Burlington and talked to the head of the house at the time, Elizabeth Burnley Gwathmey, Dr. Gwathmey’s wife, because the men were gone. As the soldiers came up to the house, the children Elizabeth was watching at the time hid under her hoop skirt, scared of the soldiers. Among these kids was a slave named Sylvia. Sylvia was freed after the war, but she spent the rest of her life as a nanny for Gwathmey’s family. In return, the Gwathmey family granted her a lot of land with a house.

Sylvia’s given house back left and new barn on the right.

Left side of the house.

This historic property has been part of my family for generations, and there are now easements on the property to ensure the conservation of the property and its rich history.

All photos courtesy of John O. Gwathmey.