Photo Album:

Page 1: Exterior Photos | Page 2: Interior, Page 1 | Page 3: Interior, Page 2|
Page 4: Old Pictures of Cleydael | Page 5: Living History at Cleydael

Page 4: Old Pictures of Cleydael:

Note: we are searching for any older photographs of Cleydael. If you know of any, please contact us.


Cleydael, ca. 1900
(click for larger image)

This is so far the oldest picture of Cleydael we have currently managed to obtain, taken ca. 1900 for publication in Osborn H. Oldroyd's book, "Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" Oldroyd toured the escape route and interviewed people who had been involved and their descendants. This picture confirms that the wrap-around front porch had already been built by this time and also the lean-to kitchen, but the screen porch had not yet been built. It also shows the maple tree in the front yard to be older than we thought. The photograph is poor quality, being a high density scan of a photograph in the book from an era when the technology for reproducing photographs in printed works was in its infancy. Behind the tree to the right, there is something light colored, which looks like it could be some kind of outbuilding, and this bears further investigation. Another interesting thing is that if you click on the picture and view the larger image, there appears to be a lady on the front porch, just in front and to the right of the front door. Could this have been Dr. Stuart's daughter, Ada Stuart Randolph Robb, who inherited Cleydael from her father upon his death in 1889 and who lived there until her death in 1911?

The picture also shows a building on the location of the present barn. Was this an earlier barn, or the current barn? Although it is on the same location, it appears to be smaller and does not have a cupola like the present barn. The 1937 WPA report describes the barn as being contemporary with the house, however we had a historic barn and timber framing expert take a look at the current barn and he dated it to early to mid 20th century as all the nails are modern wire nails and the boards in the main section are all cut with modern circular saws, although there are some old-fashioned straight cut boards in the open extension of the barn / tractor shed which look like they could have been recycled from an earlier building. This suggests that the barn may have been completely rebuilt much later than we originally thought, during the Richardson's ownership, during which time Mr. Richardson operated a sawmill and timber business from the barn. From the picture, it looks as if the house were painted some color other than white.

Gate, C. 1900

Picture from the Oldroyd book, showing the old entrance to Cleydael from "the Port Conway road" (e.g. modern-day Rt. 301. Originally the estate comprised 1400 acres and went as far as Rt 301. It still did at the time it was subdivided with the land on Rt 301 earmarked for light industrial as well as residential development.

We have not yet been able to establish if Booth entered Cleydael via Rt. 301 or via the back road which became today's Rt. 206. We had assumed the latter as there are accounts of his coming through St. Paul's churchyard. As the entrance from Rt. 206 is much closer to the house, it appears that at least by 1900 the Rt. 301 entrance wasn't the main gateway to the property as it looks somewhat disused and just a farm track.

 

 

Cleydael in 1937
http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/cgi-bin/photo.cgi/VHI/P/16/0012

We are in the process of applying to the Library of Virginia for permission to reproduce the picture which may be viewed by clicking the link above
(will open in a new window)

This picture was taken in 1937 by Julia Marie Heflin, who conducted the WPA (Works Progress Adminstration) survey of historic buildings for King George County. The picture shows that the screen porch extension to the lean-to kitchen had been constructed by this date, which tallies with the estimated date we had heard of ca. 1920's. Behind the tree to the right is some sort of outbuilding -- too close to the house and in the wrong position to be the old garage that collapsed in the 1980s. In this picture, the house is clearly painted a color other than white. However, we do not know the color of the house during the Stuart's ownership when it was first built.

Cleydael in the late 1970s - Early 80's Before Restoration


Picture taken by author Edward Steers and reproduced in his book Blood on the Moon (Click to buy from Amazon.com)

This picture was taken sometime in the 1970's to early 1980s when Cleydael was a rental property and prior to its restoration by Dr. Ed Veazey. The picture shows that the front portion of the wrap-around porch was screened in, but the side portion was left open. To the left of the kitchen extension and front porch, there appears to be some kind of structure with a window beyond the tree. If this were extant in 1937 it would have been out of camera range and if it were there in 1900 it would have been hidden by the large bank of bushes shown in the picture at the top of this page. Another mystery!

 

 

 

Cleydael is a private home. please respect our privacy and do not visit without an invitation. (Unless, of course, you're somebody we know, in which case y'all come!!
-- but phone first and give us a heads up and be expected to be handed a paint brush!)

Cleydael's History:
History & Owners |  Architecture | The Stuarts | What's in a Name? | | Calverts & Stiers
Lee Connections|  | Other Relations | African Americans | Booth at Cleydael
Jo-Anne Coe: In Memoriam
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