Virginia

Scotchtown, Beaverdam, Virginia (37.844487, -77.586169)

Primary Phase of House         Felling Dates: Winter 1742/3

Individual Sample 1625-1742 (oak) scva3 (t = 5.77 MONTTP; 5.34 PIEDMO; 5.22 DC-AREA2).

Scotchtown is a plantation in Hanover County, Virginia, that was owned by Patrick Henry, a Founding Father and two-time governor of Virginia. The first floor of the main house currently consists of a wide central hall running from front to back with four rooms on either side, each grouped around a massive chimney; it rests on an English basement and has a full attic above it. The house has been reconfigured and restored over the years since its original construction.

Dendrochronological analysis has shown that amongst the timbers used to construct the building was one with complete sapwood that provided a felling date of the winter of 1742/3.

Worthington, M J and Seiter, J I 2024 “The Tree-Ring Dating of Patrick Henry's Scotchtown, Beaverdam, Virginia”, unpublished Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory archive report 2024/30

Oxford

Tree-Ring

Laboratory

The Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory provides cutting-edge commercial dendrochronological services to homeowners, architectural historians, and cultural resource managers. READ MORE

Contact Information

Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory

25 E. Montgomery St.
Baltimore, MD 21230

410-929-1520