Bushfield

Bushfield, also known as Bushfield Manor, is a historic 2+1⁄2-story Flemish bond brick mansion located in Mount Holly, Westmoreland County, Virginia, in the United States. It is the former homestead of John Augustine Washington, younger brother of George Washington, and his wife Hannah Bushrod Washington. The plantation sits on Nomini Creek and the Potomac River and was divided throughout the 19th century. The dwelling house was remodeled in the early 20th century by noted architect Waddy Butler Wood. The property was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

Bushfield, on Nomini Creek, was the family plantation of John Bushrod, whose father of the same name had bought it from Rice Maddox. Hannah Bushrod, daughter of the former Mildred Corbin who married the younger John Bushrod, married John Augustine Washington in 1756. Bushfield was about 20 miles down the King's Highway from the oldest Washington family plantation, a 700-acre tract called "Head of Maddox" on Mattox Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River, which Augustine Washington in 1743 willed to John Augustine Washington, his younger son. While his older brother George Washington was surveying western lands, John Augustine Washington brought his bride to Mount Vernon further up the Potomac River, then managed that plantation until George Washington married Martha Custis and brought her to Mount Vernon, which John Augustine Washington left in September 1761 after selling his brother some cattle. John and Hannah Washington had sons Bushrod, Corbin, and William Augustine Washington, and daughters Mary and Jenny. John Bushrod, by his February 1760 will admitted to probate by the end of that year, bequeathed Bushfield, its land, furniture and 35 slaves to Hannah Bushrod Washington, and three slaves each to his granddaughters Mary and Jenny. John A. Washington and his family visited Mount Vernon many times between 1760 and his death on January 10, 1787, the last recorded being a three-day visit in October 1786. John A. Washington had given his son Bushrod 41 slaves as a marriage deed of gift, which specified they would be deducted from his share of the estate. John Washington then wrote a will in 1784 that gave his widow dower rights in one-third of his slaves and divided his land among his sons Bushrod and Corbin Washington, among other specified legacies, and a codicil in November 1785, both admitted to probate in Westmoreland County on July 31, 1787. In addition to his Westmoreland County plantations, John A. Washington had purchased 213 acres near and town lots in Berkeley Springs. Many Bushrods, as well as John Augustine Washington, and Corbin Washington and his wife, the former Hannah Lee, would all be buried at Bushfield, although Corbin and his wife both died in Fairfax County in the winter of 1799–1800. Although several of the gravestones were missing in the Bushfield graveyard in 1944, two stone tombs remain and replacement markers were added, so 14 graves are known. Bushrod Washington sold Bushfield in 1804, and it was resold several times by the century's end. In 1916, prominent Chicagoan Mark Skinner Willing, heir to the Marshall Field & Company retailing fortune, hired architect Waddy Butler Wood, who renovated and enlarged the dwelling in the Colonial Revival style, expanding an existing dwelling on both sides with side gable roofs. A portico and lantern reflect the property's association with the family of George Washington. Waddy Butler Wood's father was from Virginia, and although the architect was born in St. Louis, Missouri, he was raised in Gloucester County, Virginia and educated at Virginia Tech. In the early 20th century, Wood became a prominent architect in the national capital area for both government and private buildings. He preferred the Colonial Revival style and had earlier renovated the interior of another former Washington family house, Woodlawn. Mark Skinner Willing was the son and heir of Henry J. Willing, a partner in the Marshall Field Department Store. His mother was Frances Skinner, daughter of Mark Skinner, a prominent Chicago lawyer and supporter of Abraham Lincoln. Upon retiring from Marshall Field, Henry J. Willing became a real estate developer in Chicago. In 1895 Mark Skinner Willing married Margaret McFaden, daughter of Robert and Rose McFaden of Chicago. He was the son of a prominent family from Quincy, Illinois. Mark Skinner Willing, eschewing Chicago where the family lived on Walton Place and in Lake Forest, where he had constructed a home on Lake Michigan, bought the old Bushfield Plantation, located on a peninsula between Nomini and Buckner Creeks in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His first purchase was for the existing 18th-century home and the property around it. Subsequently he bought property to complete his purchase of the entire peninsula. In 1915 he engaged Waddy Wood of Washington, D.C. as architect for the project to greatly enlarge the still-standing Bushfield Manor House for his family, which now included three daughters, Margaret Woodbridge, Evelyn Pierpont, and Frances, and in 1920 a son, Mark Skinner Willing, Jr. Brick from the old house was used in the partial construction of the Willing home. During research for its historic nomination, historian Kimble A. David of Norfolk located a 1916 letter describing a contractual agreement for a remodeling project at Bushfield. The renovation was so extensive that many came to believe incorrectly that the house was first built at that time. The origins of the Mount Holly property have been proven so conclusively that it was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. Wood enlarged the 18th-century original home of the family of George Washington. Its National Register of Historic Places listing is based on its 1916 renovation. Also on the property are a contributing Bungalow-style caretaker's house, barn, silo, and cemetery.

• John Bushrod bequeaths Bushfield to Hannah Bushrod Washington by his February 1760 will.

• John Augustine Washington dies on January 10, 1787; his will and 1785 codicil are admitted to probate in Westmoreland County on July 31, 1787.

• Bushrod Washington sells Bushfield in 1804.

• In 1915 Mark Skinner Willing engages architect Waddy Wood; in 1916 Wood renovates and enlarges the dwelling in the Colonial Revival style.

• Bushfield is named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

1. 1Bushfield (Mount Holly, Virginia) - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Bushfield - Wikidatawikidata.org