Warner Hall

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: 4750 Warner Hall Rd, Gloucester Courthouse, VA 23061
Surnames/tags: Warner Lewis

Contents 1 WARNER HALL 1.1 Located on the Severn River 1.2 Built after 1642 and before 1662 1.3 A Grand Home 1.4 Some Owners of Warner Hall 2 Sources

WARNER HALL

Warner Hall

The beginnings of Warner Hall are as fraught with contention as the pedigrees of the earliest colonial members of the Lewis Family.

Early genealogies of the Lewis family, start with an immigrant Robert Lewis, who supposedly had a 33,000 plus acre grant of land in Virginia. Robert's son, John, married Isabella, the daughter of Augustine Warner, and it is stated that it was Robert and/or John Lewis who built Warner Hall. Depending on which account you read, the plantation was named after Warner Hall in England, to which the family had some connection, or it was named after Isabella.

Clear evidence has been given that Isabella, wife of the first John Lewis, was actually named Miller not Warner, and land records have been located, fixing the property of Augustine Warner on the site of Warner Hall.

Between 1635 and a few years before his death in 1674, Augustine Warner acquired land that he lived on and planted, and the house was known as “Warner Hall”

Located on the Severn River

The Chesapeake Bay lies between Virginia on the West and the Delmarva Peninsula of Maryland on the east. Augustine Warner received a 600 acre grant of land in 1642, for the transport of 12 persons. This land was lying in Severne in the first river in Mockjack Bay, beginning on the North side of the Severne called Austins Desire, north towards land surveyed by John Robins, thence to a creek dividing same from land of Humphrey Hammore.^[1]He acquired three more recorded parcels of land on the north side of the Severn. This was the plantation that supported Warner Hall. ^[1]

Built after 1642 and before 1662

The original Warner Hall was built between 1642, when Augustine first acquired land in the area and 1662, when the wife of Augustine was buried there. A kitchen wing was added about 1666. Mrs. Potter in “The Willises of Virginia” claims that it was the first home built by a non-native in what would become Gloucester County, Virginia.^[2]

A Grand Home

The building that was the home of Augustine Warner, and later John Lewis and their families was a grand southern plantation. It had ample property to plant, and easy access to a navigable waterway. The game was plentiful and the river was full of clams, oysters and fish. In other words an excellent place to live, and the house became known as Warner Hall.

The building that is now known as Warner Hall is not the original building, but was built on the foundations of the original building. It's laid out along the Severn River, with the back porch facing an inlet of the River. The front approach is down a long avenue that was once bordered by stately old trees. Nearby is the family cemetery which now only contains 14 tombs, but certainly there were other graves there, now unmarked.

A 17th century Warner home may have been destroyed by fire in 1740. ^[3] If so, the house of 1834 was rebuilt on those original foundations.: The doubt about the 1740 fire, comes from the fact that the book "Lewis of Warner Hall" does not mention this fire, but perhaps the author knew nothing about it.

Instead Sorley comments about the years around 1740: "Warner Hall probably was at the peak of its existence as a prominent center of Virginia industry and social life" and around this time many of the valuable furnishing etc. may have been acquired. Col John Lewis made use of proximity to the River with easy access into Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic to carry on a lively shipping business.

The original house was according to accounts three stories, had twenty-six rooms and a tiled roof, which was an unusual feature. The central brick section with basement and a two room addition (18 rooms), was flanked on both sides by wings reportedly made of brick carried from England. The two wings were at one time separate detached buildings.^[2] The east wing was the plantation kitchen and laundry and the west contained the shipping office, school room and the tutor's quarters.^[3][4]

In 1834, the house passed out of the hands of the Lewises and in 1841 one of the wings burned.

In 1849, Mr. Colin Clarke, of Richmond City, owned the colonial mansion. "The story is told that Mr. Clarke remarked at breakfast that if he wasn't so fond of Warner Hall, he would choose to live in Richmond all the time. The comment was overheard by a 14 year old male servant,^[5] who believed that Richmond would be a wonderful place to live. Shortly thereafter, the house caught fire and burned. ^[6]

Today, Warner Hall is a lovely Colonial Revival manor house (circa 1900) which was rebuilt on the earlier 17th and 18th century foundation. The central portion has porches on front and back. The front porch has four two story pillars. The original 17th century west wing dependency (the plantation schoolroom and tutor’s quarters) has been restored and offers a rare glimpse into the past. Other historic outbuildings still standing include the 18th century brick stables, a dairy barn and smokehouse.^[3]

The house was renovated by the current (2015) owners and is run as an Inn. It is listed by both the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission.^[3]

Some Owners of Warner Hall

• Augustine Warner (1610-1674), Councillor of the Colony of Virginia & his wife Mary Towneley (1614-1662).
• Augustine Warner Jr. (1642-1681) Speaker of the House of Burgesses and Councillor of the Colony of Virginia & his wife Mildred Reade
• Robert Warner (1670-c. 1701) inherited the house from his mother Mildred, but he died childless, and the house went to his sister.
• Elizabeth Warner (1672-1718) & Councillor John Lewis (1669-1725).
• Col. John Lewis & wives Frances Fielding and Priscilla Churchill
• Warner Lewis (1720-1779) & wife Eleanor (Bowles) Gooch (c.1720-1776)
• Warner Lewis Jr. & wives Mary Chiswell and second wife
• Warner Lewis 3rd who m. 1772 Courtenay Norton
• Elizabeth Lewis d/o above & husband Dr. Matthew Whiting Brooke. She sold Warner Hall in 1834.
• In 1849, it was owned by Mr. Colin Clarke, of Richmond City
• ?
• 1902 Alfred William Withers who deeded the cemetery to the APVA^[7]
• 1916 owned by William Jackson Selleck ^[8]
• ?
• About 1995- owned by Theresa and Troy Stavens

A recent book "Warner Hall, Story of a Great Plantation" by David Brown, & Thane Harpole (DATA Investigations, LLC, 2004) has an updated story about the plantation. If you have a copy of this book, please feel free to contribute new information to this space.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Nugent, Nell Marion. Cavaliers and pioneers; abstracts of Virginia land patents and grants, 1623-1800 (Volume 1). 1934.(p 142)
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Lewis of Warner Hall by Merrow Egerton Sorley, Genealogical Publishing Com, 1935.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} Warner Hall at bigballoonmusic
4. ↑ "Mr. Conways reply to his criitic" The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Volume 1 Jan 84 issue. Virginia Historical Society, 1893/1894
5. ↑ Although accounts don't specifically say a slave, this was Virginia prior to the Civil War
6. ↑ Barons of the Potomack and the Rappahannock. Conway, Moncure Daniel. New York: The Grolier Club, 1892.
7. ↑ http://carolshouse.com/cemeteryrecords/warner/
8. ↑ Selleck Memorial: With Collateral Connections By William Edwin Selleck. Chicago:private 1916