July 31, 2015

One year ago today I was driving cross country from Kansas to Kentucky. So today I’m celebrating with a short road trip south to the historic home of Cassius Marcellus Clay (“emancipationist, politician, newspaper publisher, Ambassador to Russia, and friend to Abraham Lincoln.”)

White Hall State Historic Site, 8 miles north of Richmond.  Beautiful.

Home of Cassius Marcellus Clay. Built in the Georgian style as Clermont Mansion in 1798 by his father, General Green Clay, and enlarged and remodeled as an Italianate mansion in the 1860s, when it was renamed White Hall.

One of Cassius Clay’s daughters. Women’s rights leader.

A pretty drive from the highway to the estate.

Carriage steps again.

Carriage steps at White Hall

Wooden steps to a servants’ entrance. The top two were the actual width of old-growth trees.

One of the barred windows to a basement room that had 7 sets of manacles mounted in the walls. Cassius Clay’s father, Green Clay, had over 100 slaves.

Side view.

The original entry doors to the 1798 Clermont house, now a wing of White Hall.

Front entrance.

Side view of the mansion from the garden.

Rear view.

An important part of any road trip is scouting out the best local coffee shops. 🙂 Purdy’s Coffee Co. has won awards for its historic renovation of an 1884 building on Main Street in Richmond. Purdy’s Coffee Co.

Good music at the coffee shop.   Boy With A Coin (Iron & Wine)

View from the rear walkway of the house, towards the smoke house.

Entrance to the side garden. “The rose garden seen today is in the same location dating back to Green Clay’s time (late 1790s).” The urn in the center belonged to the Clay family.

The old stone kitchen and other dependencies.

Stone kitchen. In smaller room on the right end. Built in 1790.

Smoke house and chicken house.

Stone kitchen. In the large room to the left. Built several years after 1790.

Fabric woven by White Hall African-American slave

View from the stone kitchen towards the chicken house.

Grist mill, exterior.

Ice house.

Stone kitchen. 1790. Sleeping quarters in the loft for domestic servants (slaves).

Stone kitchen doorway.

Grist mill, interior.

Rear of the stone kitchen.

Another one of the outbuildings at White Hall.–possibly a harness shop or for storage of grain or lumber.

Side and back of the corn crib/mule barn.

View from the covered side porch of the corn crib.

Rear of corn crib/mule barn.

Entrance to corn crib/mule barn. Look at all those projecting log ends!