A History of Menokin

Menokin was the plantation and home of patriot Francis Lightfoot Lee and his wife, Rebecca Tayloe. Rebecca's father, John Tayloe II of nearby Mt. Airy, made a wedding gift of the Georgian mansion and 1,000 acres to the couple in 1769. The estate now consists of 500 acres situated on Cat Point Creek in Richmond County in Virginia's Northern Neck. Many of Virginia's most famous plantations are nearby. The property is home to many species of wildlife including beaver, otter, pileated woodpecker, osprey, and bald eagle. The Lees died without children in 1797, and the property was left to the heirs of Francis Lee. In 1800 it reverted to the Tayloes. In the early nineteenth century, it was the home of John Tayloe Lomax, first professor of law at the University of Virginia. The property was sold in 1823 and, eventually, it was passed down to Thomas Edgar Omohundro and his sister, Dora Omohundro Ricciardi. Upon Dora's death, she willed her share to Thomas and, on July 4, 1995, he gave the entire property to the Menokin Foundation.

Francis Lightfoot Lee was born in 1734 and raised at Stratford Hall Plantation. Frank Lee, as he was called, devoted his life to public service. Lee lived in Loudoun County where he was chief of the local militia and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was concerned about the rights of colonies and in 1766 signed the Westmoreland Association resolution against the Stamp Act. After marrying Rebecca, Frank moved to Richmond County, where he was elected to the Virginia Legislature. He served as a member of the Virginia Conventions of 1774 and 1775 and as a member of the Continental Congress. Frank and his brother, Richard Henry, were the only pair of brothers to sign the Declaration of Independence. Francis and Rebecca Lee both died in 1797 and are buried at Mt. Airy.

Although now in ruin, Menokin is a remarkable encyclopedia of Colonial knowledge. Original drawings and later descriptions, photographs, and measured drawings document the original buildings. Most of the 18th-century woodwork has been removed and saved. The plantation consisted of many outbuildings dominated by the sandstone mansion which was flanked by the office and kitchen dependencies. The mansion is a three-bay, double-pile with central entrance. It had two stories over a full storage basement, a hip-on-hip roof and two large brick chimney stacks. The north, front entrance had heavy pilasters topped by a delicate fanlight and an unusual keystone with floral carvings. Double doors led into the paneled stair hall. To the left was the still-surviving study and, to the right, was a small bed chamber. The stylishly large dining rom and master bed chamber dominated the rear or south side of the floor plan. Both rooms had outstanding Georgian woodwork and chimney pieces. The surviving paneled over mantles in these two rooms are richly carved. The four second-floor bed chambers had much simpler woodwork as is shown by the surviving mantles and molding. The double doors from the dining room stepped down to the multiple-terraced garden levels that can still be found at the southern slope toward Menokin Bay. Menokin's architectural importance was recognized early in this century. In 1940 the Historic American Building Survey produced detailed photography and comprehensive measured drawings. The surprisingly intact interior woodwork was removed in 1968 and is now held in storage by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. This wealth of information and original building fabric provides a special opportunity for study, preservation, and eventual restoration. It will be a classroom for historic preservation practitioners and students. We invite you to open this encyclopedia that is Menokin.

The Menokin Foundation, a tax-exempt private organization, was established to preserve this National Historic Landmark and eventually restore it to its eighteenth-century splendor. An equally important mission is to use the opportunity to train students. Field schools will cover eighteenth-century construction, below and above ground archaeology, documented and oral history, historic landscapes, and all the skills needed to preserve, study, and restore a colonial plantation. Students will excavate American Indian sites, slave and tenant houses and study the lives and cultures of all the people associated with Menokin. The Menokin Foundation is also dedicated to conservation of Menokin's natural resources through careful management of the woodland, fields, marshes and shoreline, and the study of past and present flora and fauna.

For further information and site tours, contact:
The Menokin Foundation
PO Box 1221
Warsaw, Virginia, 22572
(804) 333-1776

Menokin is located four miles northwest of Warsaw, Virginia off Route 3 on Route 690 (Menokin Road). Nearby is Stratford Hall Plantation, the ancestral home of the Lee family and the childhood home of Francis Lightfoot Lee. Also nearby is Mt. Airy, the architectural prototype for Menokin and childhood home of Rebecca Tayloe, wife of Frank Lee.