Ongoing Historical Preservation Projects

The Preservation Department of Stratford Hall is always in the process of multiple preservation projects. These projects vary in size from large restoration projects to small annual projects.

The Department conducts an Annual Conditions Survey each fall. This survey allows the Department to prioritize the preservation needs of the historic structures. Each building receives a extensive survey every three years. In the years between the extensive survey the buildings are surveyed to be sure a major problem has not arisen over the past year.

The Preservation Department is currently developing a Cyclical Maintenance Plan. This plan will help to preserve the valuable historic structures of Stratford Hall. With the implementation of this plan, major preservation issues with these historic structures will be avoided. The Preservation Department feels that regular maintenance is the backbone of historic preservation.

The Department is also conducting and overseeing larger scale preservation projects.

Website visitors are welcome to view a staff-generated blog about our most recent preservation activities.

Northwest Stair Reconstruction

When the Robert E. Lee Memorial Foundation purchased Stratford in 1929, a small stair existed in the northwest corner of the main house. The photograph at the left is from Edith Tunis Sale's Colonial Interiors published in 1930. When architect Fiske Kimball restored the house in the 1930s, he identified the stair as a renovation made by Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee in the 1790s. Since the goal of the restoration was to return the house to its original architectural configuration, the stair was removed in 1938.

In the 1990s, as interest in replacing Fiske Kimball-designed elements with more authentic ones increased, historic architects Paul Buchanan and Charles Phillips returned the remaining architectural fragments from the northwest stair to their former location. For a decade, architectural historians and paint analysts documented numerous alterations of the house made by "Light Horse Harry" Lee. Whereas previous generations of Lees had lived and slept solely on the upper floor of the house, Harry had altered those rooms so drastically that he needed to create bedchambers on the lower floor for his growing family. Constructing a stair in the northwest corner made this possible.

The new interpretative plan for the Great House calls for the upper stair passage space to be interpreted to the same period as the adjacent drawing room with its Federal Period trim. Paint and architectural research has been completed and plans for the reconstruction of the Federal Period stair are underway.

CWF architectural historians Carl Lounsbury, Paul Klee and William Graham looks for traces of the former stair to the attic.

Paint analyst Susan Buck investigates evidence for original finish treatment on remaining fragments of the Federal Period stair on the lower floor of the Great House.

Mill Site Restoration

Although major restoration work was completed on the mill machinery in 2003, other elements of the building's exterior and the stone-lined tailrace to the Potomac still needed repair. Director of Preservation Phil Mark has coordinated the repair of rotted window sills in various parts of the building.

The tailrace, which carries water from the millwheel out to the river, was constructed in the late 1930s and had deteriorated from over 50 years of use and adverse weather conditions. In 2003 the gale-force winds of Hurricane Isabel caused waves to fill the tailrace with all sorts of debris, which further damaged the aging stone structure.

View of tailrace area showing major repairs

View of new stonework in tailrace

Repairing the damage this winter was a complex and challenging project. The stone walls of the tailrace were reconstructed using stone from the existing walls and sandstone that was found on site at Stratford Hall. A timber retaining wall was constructed along the remaining length of the tailrace. The site was also cleaned of storm debris and graded. New trees, shrubs and grass were planted to help control erosion of the site.