Wilton House Museum

This picture was taken from just inside the front door; the far door could also be opened to generate a breeze through the center of the house (AKA 18th Century air conditioning).

The Wilton House was built around 1753, but not at its current location in Richmond, Va. When William Randolph II built his Georgian home, it was on his 2,000-acre tobacco plantation 15 miles down the James River from Richmond.

During the 17^th Century and into the 18^th Century, the Randolphs were among the most wealthy and powerful families in Colonial Virginia (probably helped along by being one of the largest slaveholders in the area, too). Even today, the Randolph name is seen throughout the city of Richmond.

I loved the little nook rooms. One of the reasons the home was deemed worthy of saving was the magnificent paneling found in every single room (closets, too!).

The home remained in the Randolph family for more than 100 years, though the family’s fortunes were in decline throughout most of that time.

In 1859 the home was sold out of the Randolph family to pay their significant debts. The home was then sold several more times before finally going into foreclosure during the Great Depression.

In 1932, the National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Virginia rescued the home from ruin. Though they saved the building, they could not save the land on which it stood, which had been rezoned for industrialization. Undeterred, the Society had the home dismantled brick-by-brick and reassembled at its current location in Richmond.