Cultural Landscape Report for Chatham, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania NMP
Beagan, Christopher and Foulds, H. Eliot. 2019. Cultural Landscape Report for Chatham, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania NMP. FRSP 326 149584. National Park Service, Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation. Boston
Chatham is located on the northeast bank of the Rappahannock River in Stafford County, overlooking the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia. It is set at the intersection of a residential neighborhood, public park, and commercial area, removed from, but visually connected to, the busy historic district across the river. Chatham is bordered to the southwest by River Road, to the northwest by John Lee Pratt Memorial Park (Stafford County), to the northeast by commercial development, and to the southeast by residential development. This 88.65-acre unit of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park is all that remains of a once vast estate amassed by the Fitzhugh family beginning in the early eighteenth century. The Georgian style brick manor house was constructed circa 1768–71 by William Fitzhugh (1741–1809) at the core of a large plantation supported by slave labor. During the American Civil War, Chatham served as a Union headquarters and field hospital. The property was host to many noteworthy visitors before, during, and after the war. This report is organized into four chapters beginning with a detailed site history tracing the physical evolution of the Chatham landscape, followed by up-to-date documentation of the existing conditions, an analysis and evaluation of the significance and integrity of the Chatham landscape based on existing National Register of Historic Places documentation and a comparison with similar properties, and finally, treatment recommendations providing detailed guidance for the long-term management of the landscape. Additional detailed information is included in appendices, including a core area tree inventory and vegetation inventory for the Walled Garden.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Beagan, Christopher; Foulds, H. Eliot
- Date of Issue
- 2019
- Publisher
- National Park Service, Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation
- Units
- FRSP , NER
- Keywords
- Chatham, civil war, colonial, colonial revival, cultural, Ellen Shipman, Fitzhugh, Fredericksburg, FRSP, garden, gardens, history, landscape, landscape design, landscape preservation, OCLP, Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, plantation, Rappahannock River, rehabilitation, slavery, Stafford County, Virginia