This Large Plantation House is Over 225 Years Old


Carters Grove Mansion, Williamsburg Virginia
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Date added: July 13, 2016
1975 HALL LOOKING SOUTHWEST, MAIN HOUSE, FIRST FLOOR

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History of Carter's Grove

Carter's Grove mansion was commenced in 1751 and completed in 1753, if the evidence of Carter Burwell's account book is reliable. The first dated payment in the book (which is now owned by his descendant, Mr. George Burwell, of Millwood, Virginia) is June 14th, 1751, though three small items are mentioned before it. The last item in the book is dated December 8th, 1753. Unfortunately, the accounts are not very explicit, and, aside from enumerating the names of craftsmen and others, merely list a few materials that were purchased for the structure. These latter include &69.0.0 for Mr. Page - perhaps Mann Page of Rosewell in Gloucester County, as a further entry shows an item of L6.0.0 paid two bricklayers from Gloucester. The most significant payment is &115 to David Minitree for "building me a brick House according to Agreement" and a supplementary gift of L25. A further account disproves the now generally accepted story that Minitree was brought from England for the purpose of building the mansion. This is that of Richard Bayliss. Dated 1752, this occurs below Minitree's account on the same page. The division between the two accounts was evidently not noted and the entry "To Cash paid to Captain Matthew Johnson for the Passage of yourself and Family L23.13.9" was ascribed to Minitree. The accounts make it perfectly clear, however, that Baylies as transported and not Minitree.

Unfortunately, nothing is known of the source of the design for Carter's Grove. Minitree may or may not have been the designer, although he was certainly the builder. The exterior of the house shows its kinship with the architecture of the region, while the interior is much finer and savors more of the work at Kingston-on-Thames near London and in London itself. This is no doubt attributable to Bayliss, who may have designed and worked the interior trim.

The house was built by Carter Burwell on land given him by his father-in-law, Robert Carter of Corotoman.

The property was donated in the 1960s to the Williamsburg foundation, which opened it to the public and did archaeological work on the grounds. But the estate was expensive to maintain, and the foundation closed it and sold it in 2007, with conservation easements designed to protect the house and most of the land, to a tech entrepreneur.

When the entrepreneur's self-made fortune crashed, the property fell into neglect, with some simple maintenance work left undone. The Williamsburg foundation took over the needed repairs.

The plantation was on the market for a year, with a nearly $15 million asking price, but no offers were made. At a public auction only Colonial Williamsburg bid on Carter's Grove.

Samuel Mencoff, a co-chief executive of a prominent private equity investment firm in Chicago who is known for preservation projects, bought Carter's Grove from the Foundation in 2014 for $7.5 million for use as a private residence.

Colonial Williamsburg sells Carter's Grove Plantation after bankruptcy (September 19th, 2014)

Carter's Grove Plantation Sold for $15.3 Million (February 5th, 2008)