White Plains, King George County
- May 1
- 2 min read
Updated: May 24
Built in 1786, White Plains is located in King George County, approximately two miles north of the Rappahannock River and the historic village of Port Royal in Caroline County. This late-Georgian, early-Federal residence, with its restrained mid-20th-century Colonial Revival enhancements, is illustrative of three styles central to Virginia architectural history. Aaron Thornley, its first owner, served as surveyor of King George County and inspector at Gibson’s Warehouse, later Port Conway, making Thornley a player in the early colonial-era settlement of the county.
The property is also significant for the well-documented work enslaved persons of African descent executed there from the 1780s until the early 1860s. The house’s Colonial Revival elements were added during a restoration in the 1940s, notably carried out with a strong sense of preservation that appears to have “colonialized” relatively little of the existing historic fabric, and instead ensured its continued preservation and use.
White Hall, post from https://spotsylvaniamemory.blogspot.com/
The King George County, Virginia home called White Plains was built in 1786 by Aaron Thornley, the surveyor for the county. It is a two-and-a-half-story frame house with a raised English basement. The design of the house includes both late Georgian and Federal styles. The secluded thirty-eight-acre property includes a terraced yard on the south side that dates to the early years of the home.
Although there had been some renovations to the property during the nineteenth century by subsequent owners, Thomas Thornley, Aaron’s son; James Quesenberry; and Alexander Gouldman; it still maintained its original footprint when the property was purchased by Alexander Walker in 1940. Rather than add a new wing onto the house or an elaborate porch as was popular at the time, Walker undertook an extensive, yet sensitive, renovation in the Colonial Revival style. The work was possibly done under the guidance of Thomas Waterman, a noted scholar of colonial architecture who lived across the Rappahannock River in Port Royal.
In 2013, new owners Zach Hatcher and Chris Kucera began undertaking a five-year restoration of the home. The home is now listed on the Virginia Landmarks Registry; National Register of Historic Places, based upon association “with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. White Plains was the recipient of the Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Society’s 2019 John Paul Hanbury Award* in honor of the outstanding restoration completed by Hatcher and Kucera.
D. Andrew Gladwell, White Plains, 2019 Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Magazine, 8838-40.
*The late John Paul Hanbury understood the importance of preserving and interpreting our past through the buildings that we inhabit. It is in his memory that the John Paul Hanbury Award was established in 2012, by the Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Society, to recognize historic buildings and those who dedicate themselves to the preservation.
Comments