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 Wheatland Manor: The Rowland-Pitzer House

Botetourt County, Virginia

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All photographs by Mike Gardebled,
Photojournalist, New Orleans & Slidell, LA.
Permission for non-commercial use is permitted  if credit is  given
by including this statement in any reproduction or publication.
~~~~~
This report is based in part on one written by Lavalette Dillon in 1937.



SUBJECT:   Rowland-Pitzer House;  aka the Mayhew House, aka  Wheatland Manor.  Although this house was not known as Wheatland Manor until sometime after the 1940s,  for clarity's sake   that name  is used most often  in this report.  

 DATE OF ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION:   The first known dwelling at this location was a two-story wooden house built by Colonel Thomas Rowland and described as being "on the Mays Road, within four miles of Fincastle. . . .situated between  Francis Preston and the west and William Martin on the east."   Construction took place between December 11, 1798 --when  Thomas Rowland purchased the land from Thomas King-- and 1803 --when the house and three outbuildings at this location were insured by the Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia.  Included in the same policy with the dwelling was  "a separate 2-story kitchen with a smoke-house (10 ft. from the house); a 40 x 30 wooden still-house (100 yds from the house);  and a two-story mill (about 400 yds from the house)."  In his renewal policy dated 31 May 1811, Thomas added six buildings, including a one-story log house, a (gun) powder-mill, blacksmith shop, malt-house and whiskey distillery.
  
It was long specualted that Wheatland Manor was also built by Thomas, but evidence indicates it may have been built after his death, by one or all of the three sons --Jesse, Silas and Joel-- named as heirs of Thomas' plantation.   When Thomas'son Silas died in December of 1842, his estate consisted of 1184.5 acres, and included "the dwelling house" where Silas had lived, a barn, meat house, grist mill and saw mill, all located on the same property mentioned in Thomas' will. There were also several smaller houses on the property and identifying the one Thomas insured in 1804 may never be possible as there is no record of when and by whom any additions to the original house were made.


LOCATION:   Botetourt County, Virginia;  four and one half miles east of Fincastle on the Wheatland Road.  In his declaration for insurance, Thomas described his residence, Mount Airy and its location as ". . . situated  in Botetourt County on the Mays Road within four miles of Fincastle. . . situated between Francis Preston to the West and William Martin (to the) East. "  The road was later known as the "Stage Road" to Buchanan from Fincastle.  It appears that Wheatland Manor was built approximately 0.4 miles  to the southeast of where Mount Airy was located.  

                                            map
 

         OWNERS:
April 26, 1796 - Patent to Thomas King
This land was described in the grant as 400 acres on the waters of Catawbo
Creek, a branch of James River adjoining the land of Francis Preston.

December 11, 1798 - Thomas King to Thomas Rowland

December 23, 1813 - Thomas Rowland (by will) to his sons Jesse,
Silas & Joel.

March 1843 -Commissioners for the division of Silas Rolands (sic) land to 
Wm S. Davis Eliza his wife (formerly Eliza Rowland) and Wm. Robert Rowland.

 Eliza Rowland Davis and William Robert Rowland were the children of Silas'  deceased brother, William Rowland.
At the time of his death, Silas owned a  large estate  consisting of 1184+ acres--some which he had inherited from his father Thomas, and some from his brother Joel. On this property, was large dwelling house--Wheatland Manor-- several smaller dwellings, a barn, meat- house, grist mill and saw mill.  In his will, the land was divided into 10 parcels and distributed among his heirs, his sister Mildred Rowland Gilmore --the last surviving child of Thomas Rowland-- and the children (and/or their spouses) of  Silas' deceased siblings. Wm. S. Davis (husband of Eliza) and William  R. Rowland received equal interests in 150 acres and "the dwelling house where I live."

October 1848 - William S. Davis sold out his interest  to his brother-in-law, William Robert Rowland,  who also acquired adjoining land from fellow heirs of  Silas Rowland:  131 acres which included the saw mill, and 60 acres which included the family burial ground. William was not a farmer, however, and in the census of 1850, William is found living in a hotel in Fincastle, where he is the constable. He reported real estate valued at $7700. He married Isabella Ferguson in August of 1850, shortly after the census was taken. At the time of his unexpected death in 1853 as a young man of 31, he owned a general store in Fincastle, probably purchased from the proceeds of the sale of his Wheatland Road property.

December 22, 1851, William R. Rowland sold the house and 335 acres of land (including the saw mill) to Rufus Pitzer, and the house came to be known as the Rowland-Pitzer House. During the 17 years Rufus lived in the house, he acquired addional adjoining acreage from the heirs of Thomas and Silas Rowland along with other properties in Botetourt County. Reportedly, he overextended himself with debt he could not handle,  and ". . .left the area hurridly, selling his entire estate of some 1,230 acres to Jacob Cronice of Frederick Co., Maryland for $35,000."

April 1, 1868 - Rufus Pitzer to Jacob Cronise. 
The Fincastle Herald, 7 Feb. 1901: Jacob Cronise died at his residence, near Botetourt (on)January 29th. . . . Wheatland Chapel loses its founder and oldest member. In March, 1868, Mr. Cronise bought the Rufus Pitzer farm and moved his family from Frederick, MD, to this locality. His large farm was laid out into smaller ones and his children were settled around him. Feeling the need of school and religious services, Luther Chapel was built. . . .About 16 years ago at his suggestion Wheatland Chapel was erected.

January 1876, Jacob sold to his brother, Americus Cronsise, who sold to A.H.Thompson in 1890; Thompson sold to C.C. Noffsinger in 1898; Noffsinger (by will) to his wife Alice and children George and Olive. In February 1918, Alice and George Noffsingers sold their interest to J. Webster and Olive Noffsinger Williamson.

February 1934 - J. Webster Williamson sold to Horace E. Mayhew.  

1944 -  From Robert Stoner's A Seed-Bed of the Republic  (1962). " (Wheatland Manor) . . . owned by C. H. Hammond, whose son Lee Hammond now occupies the lovely old home. "    The house remained in the Hammond family for almost 50 years.  

1992- The house was listed with the National Register of Historic Places as  Wheatland Manor by its current owner, Richard Jones, who is doing extensive work  to save and restore the house.

wall
DESCRIPTION:   " A lovely old brick house sitting close to Wheatland road. The yard is sloping and is surrounded by a sturdy stone wall made of gray limestone. " According to a  1930's report written by Lavalette Dillon for the Virginia Historical Project, the wall was built by slaves, but this is not entirely accurate. The cut limestone wall was  the work of  local artisan, Michael English from Ireland. Along the roadway, is a dry wall of rough stones picked up in the fields and laid by Pitzer slaves.



door


Originally constructed with the clean architectural lines of the Federalist style, it's the two-story Greek Revival-style front porch added by Rufus Pitzer that first strikes the eye of any
visitor today. The hand-carved columns and covered porches were added by Pitzer at
a cost in excess of $1000 --a huge amount in the early 1850s.

Lavalette Dillon wrote, "There are nine rooms, four downstairs and five upstairs. The
front hall is very wide with a broad, opened stairway to the right. On each side of the
hall is an enormous living room . . . each with a large fireplace with hand-carved mantels.
At the far end of the room on the right of the hall is a deep cupboard which is very prettily carved. Behind this room is large dining room and behind that, the kitchen." The house
has a broad front and an L-wing in the back that is narrower.





frontside


The upstairs contains four large bedrooms, two in the front with fireplaces in
each of them, and two in back. The stairs branch about half-way from the top.
In between the bedrooms is a small room on a lower level than the rest of the upstairs, with steps on either side leading to the front and back.

There is a brick chimney on each end of the front section and two brick chim-
neys to the back wing. At the time Lavalette inspected the house, it boasted 31 windows. The ceiling heights on the main floor are 10 ft. high; the ceiling upstairs are 8 ft. The house has an attic and two cellars, both lined with rock walls.



wmrear




   This 2007 photo by Wesley Kerner 
   shows the addition to back of the original
   house; probably added in the 1850s.








In 1937, none of the original furniture remained in the house, but a few of the original locks were there. Any slave quarters, the
old saw mill and grist mill were no longer in evidence, but Lavalette reported a new barn was across the road, which apparently belonged to the same property. The divison of land in the estates of both Joel and Silas Rowland show that the Rowland land extended on both sides of what is now Wheatland Road. Thomas Rowland described it as, "the road to Buchanan", which is still
true. Hills rise to the back of the property, and even now, 200+ years later, it must look somewhat similar to the land Thomas Rowland purchased in 1798.



road
                           



For any comments, corrections, questions, or just to talk about old houses, please contact me.

contact
This report is based partly on one by Lavalette Dillon that is included in the W.P.A.'s Virginia Historical Inventory
Project, and
sponsored by the Virginia Conservation Commission under the direction of its Division of History.
Credit to both the Commission and WPA is
requested for publication in whole or part.


  * The Virginia Historical Inventory is available online at LVA's website
Joanne Merrill Kartak  September 2006  All Rights Reserved.
Any commercial use  without the express consent of the host/author of these pages is prohibited.
The material contained on these pages, including the photographs, is available for the private use
of those researching family origins,  but can only be reproduced
or published if credit is given
for the photographs  by Mike Gardebled, photojournalist.  



Sources:
 Botetourt County, Virginia:  Courthouse records;  
Library of VA's Historical Inventory: Report by  Lavalette Dillon, WPA;  
Mutual Assurance Policies, also available at LVA.
Stoner's Seed-Bed of the Republic;  Summers Annals of Southwest Virginia;  
Sharon Strout for Jacob Cronise's obit;   Patte Wood,  Rowland Family Archives;
Richard Jones, Roanoke, Va.;  Report for National Register of Historic Places,
 by Daniel Pezzoni, Roanoke, Va.; and Mike Gardebled of Slidell and New Orleans
for the photographs that bring this report to life.

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