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Sully Historic Site3650 Historic Sully Way
Chantilly, VA 20151
Sully, the country home of Richard Bland and Elizabeth Collins
Lee, was built in 1794 on land inherited by his father, Henry Lee II.
The house was situated on what was originally a 3,111 acre tract
between Cub and Flatlick Runs, then part of Loudoun County, Virginia.
In 1789, Lee was elected to represent northern Virginia in the first
congress of the United States. For the next five years he spent a good
deal of his time in New York and Philadelphia, where the delegates
convened. By the end of 1793, construction began on the manor house and
associated buildings which eventually replaced the log house that was
Richard Bland Lee's bachelor residence.
From Philadelphia, Lee ordered the necessary supplies and forwarded building instructions to his agent in Virginia. Nails, plaster of Paris, linseed oil, window weights and ropes, even two marble hearths, were among the cargoes shipped by sloop to the port of Alexandria and transported by wagon the remaining twenty miles to Sully. "The colors I directed were slate for the Roof and Stone for the Body inside and out," Lee wrote. "Urge the painter to lose no time in his work."
Two-and-a-half stories high and three bays wide, Sully bears a resemblance to the townhouses of Philadelphia, the city where Lee met and married Elizabeth Collins, the daughter of a Quaker merchant. Stephen Collins, visiting his daughter's Chantilly home in September of 1794, wrote to assure his wife that Sully was "a clever house, has an elegant hall 12 feet wide and two very pretty rooms on the first floor...
There are two large and one small Chamber in the second story, and one handsome and large chamber in the third or garret story and another good lodging room besides..." The Lee home was, by design, a fit residence for a man of Lee's station and a comfortable dwelling place for his wife.
Sully was built during the nation's Federal Period (1790-1820). Outside, the clapboard siding conceals mortared brick set between the studs of the frame. Inside, the floor plan presents one half of a center hall configuration, in keeping with Lee's initial plans to build a second full wing at a later date.
Sitting rooms
and living quarters open onto the first floor hall and second floor
passage way. Lee's cousin, Thomas Shippen, a house guest from
Pennsylvania in 1794, reported to his father, "I would fain give
you some idea of the elegance in which this kinsman of ours has settled
himself...This house (is) lately furnished from Phila. with every
article of silver plate, mahogany, wilton carpeting, and glassware that
can be conceived... Parlours and chambers completely equipped with
every luxury as well as convenience."
Lee had begun to
collect furnishings for his small but stylish manor house while still
living in his log home. Eventually a sideboard, two dining tables and a
pair of card tables were placed in the new residence alongside mahogany
chairs, a desk and 'handsom'knife cases. Blue and white Chinese export
porcelain, glass tumblers and decanters, a silver plated urn and
flatware having "green Ivory handles of the best sort, the handles
of the finest and largest sizes" adorned the dining table.
Sully was sold in 1811 by Richard Bland Lee. Financial reverses played
a part in the decision and it is likely, too, that Elizabeth Lee cared
more for the advantages of city life for herself and her children. At
the same time, her husband was drawn to offices of public service which
also kept him away from his country estate. 
For whatever
reasons, Sully was offered for sale and quickly sold to a cousin,
Francis Lightfoot Lee.
Lee's 1787 inheritance from his father included land, livestock and the ownership of 29 slaves. Among them were Sam, the blacksmith; John, a manservant; Prue, the mother of several children; Thornton, a male cook; and Caine and Eave, who had lived and worked at Sully since 1746. These black men and women, along with four tenants, provided the essential labor and artisan skills upon which the family depended. Their activities encompassed every aspect of operating the farm.
Thornton and other
cooks employed their skills in the kitchen "which is abt. 60 feet
from the house (and) is a finer one than is in twenty miles square, and
is in fact a Kitchen and Laundry with a very handsome chimney..." A
large double fireplace separates the two rooms. This single structure
is connected to the house by a covered walkway which was the access
most likely used by house slaves serving meals and carrying out
assigned tasks.
A smokehouse and its twin, a small square building whose original purpose and location are still unknown, stand at opposite ends of Sully house. In the smokehouse, meats were hung overhead to cure from wooden pegs which are still visible.
Two feet thick at the base and 25 feet tall on its highest side, the dairy may have been the only quarried stone building on the property. Probably constructed with some slave labor, its inner and outer walls were insulated with a mixture of earth and straw to insure relatively cool temperatures for the storage of milk, cheese and butter. During the summer months, eggs, fruits and vegetables would have been kept there. The second floor "elegant apartment," as Lee noted in a description of his dairy, may have served as living quarters for an overseer, or domestic workers, but there are no references to actual tenants during the period of the Lee residency.
Additional structures supporting farm activities and the quarters housing the slave community would have been an integral part of the Sully landscape. In 1794, Stephen Collins described slave "huts... as different from such as I have sen for that purpose in the lower part of Virginia..." Based on available data, archaeologists have determined that one slave quarter was located approximately 300 yards from the main house adjacent to the farm building area and near the south lane bridge which crossed Cain's Branch.
After 1811, Sully was home for several more families. All suited the house to their particular needs and worked the land in a variety of ways. Their efforts contributed to the survival of the estate, particularly during the Civil War when both Union and Confederate armies were encamped across the county.
|
Francis Lightfoot Lee, 1811 - 1838 William Swartwort (pictured), 1838 - 1842, Speculator |
|
Jacob and Amy (pictured) Haight Alexander Haight, 1842 - 1852 James and Marie Haight Barlow, 1852 - 1869 |
|
Stephen (pictured) and Conrad Shear 1869 -
1910 William Eads Miller 1910 - 1919, Real Estate Agent |
|
King and Rebecca Poston (pictured), 1919 -
1939, Dairy Farm Walter Thurston, 1939 - 1946, United States Diplomat |
|
Frederick E. Nolting, Jr. (pictured) 1946 -
1958, United States Diplomat Fairfax County Park Authority, 1959 - present |
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