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Stratford Hall undergoing changes to make it more like the home where Robert E. Lee was born Date published: 1/1/2008
BY FRANK DELANO Massive and majestic, Stratford Hall has crowned the cliffs above the Potomac River in Westmoreland County for almost three centuries. For about 100 of those years, various Lees of Stratford played starring roles in American history. Some of them helped forge the nation. One of them nearly tore it apart. The 1738 mansion has seen many changes. Many more are in the works as a new generation of caretakers of the 1,600-acre plantation plots new courses for Stratford on the ever-changing tides of American history and culture. The present changes begin at the front door and go deep underground, said Paul R. Reber, 48, who became Stratford's executive director in 2006. Some changes are in place, others years away. In the past, visitors to the mansion arrived through what researchers now think was a sort of ground-level servants' entrance. The doorway led to an immense "English basement" that the Lees probably used mostly for housekeeping and storage purposes. Now visitors ascend exterior stairs and enter the great central hall. It was in this 1,600-square-foot room that the Lees received guests and staged days-long dances and festivities for their neighbors. The family used the eight rooms flanking the hall as their living quarters. Gone from the Great Hall are the harpsichord and other pieces of delicate, ornate furniture that once graced the room. In their place are 12 chairs, two sofas and two tables--the same number and kind of pieces inventoried after the 1750 death of Stratford's builder Thomas Lee. The new pieces are not priceless originals. They are sturdy, simple Queen Anne reproductions where visitors now plop to hear docents describe Stratford's history. In coming years, Reber said, more of Stratford's exquisite Colonial furniture from New York and New England will be replaced with "the simple, locally made furniture" that the Lees themselves would have mostly used. In 2003, Stratford sold six pieces of 18th-century American furniture from Boston and Philadelphia for $2.7 million.
Date published: 1/1/2008
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