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Bushfield takes its place in history
Research establishes a place in history for Westmoreland County's Bushfield ManorDate published: 4/2/2004 By RICHARD AMRHINE AFTER A DECADE of ownership, research and remodeling, Judith and Gene Conner have made their point about Bushfield: Its Westmoreland County roots run nearly 300 years deep. "That has been the single most important thing," said Judith Conner during a tour of the property earlier this week. "We want to get the point across that this is an 18th-century house." Poring over dusty courthouse records and digging under the house itself--that was the hard part. Then everything fell into place when architectural historian Kimble A. David of Norfolk turned up a 1916 letter de-scribing a contractual agreement for a remodeling project at Bushfield. The project was so extensive that many came to believe incorrectly that the house was first built at that time. Indeed, the origins of the Mount Holly property have now been proved so conclusively that it was recently named to the National Register of Historic Places. What was once lore is now fact: The well-known Bushrod family took up residence there by the early 1700s. The Bushrods and Bushfield plantation were subsequently linked by ownership and marriage to their Westmoreland County neighbors, the Washington and Lee families. Though it is not clear exactly when the house was built, the graves of a second generation of Bushrods who owned the property are found in a family plot near the house. Col. John Bushrod died in 1719, and his wife, Hannah, died in 1739. A grandchild of theirs, named Hannah Bushrod, married John Augustine Washington, George Washington's brother, and they lived at Bushfield. John and Hannah Washington's son Corbin married Hannah Lee, of the Stratford Hall Lees. Her nephew Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee III was the father of Robert E. Lee. And so Bushfield takes its place in the annals of U.S. history. Located on Buckner Creek and separated from the Potomac River by a narrow spit of land, Bushfield became a river landmark. Once George had retired to Mount Vernon, brotherly visits became an easy boat ride along the Potomac.
Date published: 4/2/2004
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