Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

One of the most interesting spots in Virginia is Williamsburg, second capital of the Colony of Virginia, where at present many historical shrines are being restored through the generosity of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Williamsburg had its inception in a meeting held by the colonists in 1699, when it was proposed to move the capital […]

Sherwood Forest, in Charles City County, is about twelve miles below Westover on the River Road. It is situated on the north side of the James River opposite the Brandons, as a bird flies. The manor house is a mile back from the river, although the plantation originally took in a mile or more of […]

River Edge, as it has been known for the last hundred years or more, is on Old Indian Trail road, now River Road South, in Charles City County. The property was a grant of ten thousand acres from the king to Colonel William Cole, Esquire. The grant included all land along the James River from […]

Elsing Green is situated in King William County, the original owner being Captain William Dandridge, who was a member of the Virginia Council. The Dandridges sold the place to the Braxton family, and from them it was purchased by William Burnet Browne, who is supposed to have named it after Elsing Hall in Norfolk, England, […]

A place of much beauty and charm is Hampstead, the home of Mrs. William Wallace, in New Kent County, and situated about twenty miles east of Richmond, near Tunstall Station. This handsome old place was built about 1812 by Colonel Conway Webb, of Virginia, for his young wife, a Miss Osborne from New England. Their […]

Eltham is situated in New Kent County, and was the home of Captain William Bassett, the first of the family to come to Virginia. He died in 1672 and was succeeded by his son, William Bassett, who died in 1673. This second William Bassett was a member of the Virginia Council. There was a third […]

Wellington-on-the-Potomac is on the Fort Hunt road half-way between Mount Vernon and Alexandria. The house was built prior to 1760 and it was occupied by Colonel Tobias Lear who, for nearly fourteen years, was private and military secretary to General Washington and also private tutor to his adopted children, George W. Park Custis and his […]

About the year 1674, William Byrd, first of the name in Virginia, and his wife, Mary, came to the Colony and settled at the Falls of James River. In 1688 Byrd bought the plantation of Westover and took up his abode there. About 1730 his son, William Byrd II, built the present mansion, which is […]

SHIRLEY, one of the oldest and loveliest of the James River homes, is located just above the point where the Appomattox River enters the James. Shirley plantation is referred to in the old records as far back as 1611, Sir Thomas Dale, then governor of the Virginia Colony, having laid out and given title to […]

The mansion at Bremo was built by General John Hartwell Cocke during a period of several years, ending in 1819, under conditions which made possible its exceptional design and execution. The Bremo estate was part of a land grant to Richard Cocke in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and consisted of a very […]