Visiting Scotchtown: Patriot Patrick Henry's Home

Scotchtown is located less than 20 miles from Richmond and was the home of Patrick Henry and his family from 1771 until 1778. It was during this time that he made his impassioned speech ‘Give me Liberty or Give Me Death”. The house itself was built around 1720 by Charles Chiswell.

You have to be quite determined to visit this house. It is still very much in the country but by all means, do make the effort, it is well worth it.

The house is small and simple in comparison to some of Patrick Henry’s contemporaries, you will not be seeing another Monticello. It is very much a family home. That is who you will meet here, Patrick Henry the man, not the politician or the patriot.

Patrick Henry was a man of the people and was as popular in his day as George Washington. He was more than six feet tall and had red hair and blue eyes. He purchased this house and 960 acres of land and grew tobacco. His wife gave birth to their 6th child here and after more than 20 years of marriage seems to have had some sort of mental breakdown. It may have been post-partum depression but she never recovered and had to be moved to confinement in the basement where she died in 1775 only about a month before Henry made his famous speech.

His second wife, Dorothea Dandridge, was a relative of Martha Washington and she had 11 additional children. Patrick Henry was elected the first governor of Virginia in 1777 and moved into the Governor’s Palace. He sold the house shortly after and later in life moved to Red Hill near Lynchburg, Va.

Henry did not support the Constitution and that may have led to his being much less well known than his contemporaries. He was offered the position of Secretary of State and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by Washington and Ambassador to Spain by Adams but he refused them all because he was not a supporter of the new form of government.

This and more you will learn on your tour of Scotchtown. In addition to a guided tour of the house and basement, there are reconstructed outbuildings. A small garden and some heritage sheep are also kept here by a local 4H group. Inside the house, it is furnished as a family home. A few pieces that belonged to the family are on display but the rest is to the period. The floor in the great hall is original and you will be walking on the same wood as the great man tread.

A very nice gift shop which focuses heavily on locally produced items is where the tour begins. Be sure to check it out.

The house is opened limited hours but if you want to visit when it is closed, a cell phone tour that you can take of the exterior is quite good. Do try, however, to come when the buildings are open, the guides are very knowledgeable and it is obvious that they love the house and their jobs. You will learn a great deal about this less than well-known man who contributed so much to the formation of our country