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Stratford Hall renovations taking mansion back in time FAMOUS LEES

January 1, 2008 12:35 am

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.

"I don't want to give the impression that we are going to have another big sale of objects. There will not be one," Reber said.

One recent acquisition is a linen cabinet found in a Tappahannock antiques shop. The remarkably plain, big, pine box now sits in the room where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was born in 1807.

Stratford and its collection of 18th-century furniture used to be "all about decorating," said Reber. "But the house segment of our audience is not going to sustain us in the future. We've got other audience segments that we've got to think about and cultivate," he said.

focusing on the lees

Stratford's new interpretation emphasizes the lives of four generations of Lees who lived there.

Two Stratford brothers, Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee, signed the Declaration of Independence. Three other brothers--William, Arthur and Thomas Ludwell--also played important roles in the American Revolution.

"Understanding the lives of the Lees requires us to redecorate the rooms as they would have known them," Reber said. "This re-appraisal is based on new evidence that was not available 20 or 30 years ago. In this sense, it is still about decorating but with the intent to instill a higher degree of authenticity rather than focus on our modern sense of aesthetics."

Some of the changes now under way will correct mistakes of the past, Reber said.

The Robert E. Lee Memorial Foundation has owned the plantation since 1929. In the 1930s, the foundation hired famed architect Fiske Kimball (1888-1955) to redesign the property inside and out.

With little else to go on besides his infallible reputation, Kimball added Stratford's monumental exterior stairs. "They're not going anywhere," said Reber.

Kimball also directed makeovers of some of the mansion's rooms.

For example, he changed a parlor that Robert E. Lee's father had modernized around 1790. With the help of a $100,000 challenge grant from the Mary Morton Parson's Foundation in Richmond, the parlor will be restored to its 1790 colors and appearance.

In the room next door, Kimball removed original interior staircases that led below to the house's first floor and above to the attic.

Fortunately, one of the old staircases was photographed before its removal. Traces of another remain on the room's hand-hewn studs. Starting next year, both will be rebuilt as part of Stratford's $1.3-million Lee Heritage Plan.

other updates in works

Of that amount, $750,000 was spent this summer to install a new, geothermal heating and air-conditioning system. The system uses 13 wells and hundreds of feet of pipe and wire now buried in Stratford's south lawn.

The Great House will always remain the heart of Stratford, Reber said, but he sees important future roles for the plantation's fields, forests and river shore. That diverse landscape offers many possibilities for interpretation and outdoor activities, he said.

He expects lodging and dining at Stratford to grow as more visitors discover the charm, beauty and quiet of the place.

And, although he likely won't be around to hear it, he expects criticism from Stratford's future caretakers yet unborn.

"In 50 or 60 years, they'll probably be cursing us for what we did," he said. "But we're not doing anything now that they can't put back then."