Quoth Ed Lay:

> East Belmont near Keswick was the western portion of Colonel John
> Harvie's Belmont and was purchased by John Rogers Sr.; here he built a
> frame house in 1811.  Rogers, the first cousin of explorer General
> George Rogers Clark, served as overseer at Monticello while Jefferson
> was in France.  In 1825 his son John Rogers Jr. added a brick I-house
> (fig. 175).  It was built by the black brickmason Lewis Level with a
> fanlight doorway.  A scar on the brick facade indicates a one-story
> portico was replaced by a two-tier one featuring square columns and
> Chinese railings.

Ed's cited source for some of the above is Roy Wheeler (a prominent
local realtor with an interest in history)'s _Historic Virginia_:

> "Belmont," adjoining "Edgehill," consisting of 2,500 acres, was
> purchased about 1730 by Colonel John Harvie, a Welshman, and friend of
> Colonel Peter Jefferson, the father of Thomas Jefferson, from Joshua
> Graves.  In 1811, Col. Harvie sold to Dr. Everett the greater portion
> of this tract.  John Rogers bought the remainder of this extensive
> plantation, and built the frame part of the present mansion.  His
> great riendship for old Dr. Everett, led him to retain the name of
> Belmont (beautiful mountain) by simply adding "East," to show its
> position.  His son John Rogers, Jr., built the main brick addition, or
> front part of the house as it now stands.  Alll the bricks were burnt
> on the place, and laid by a colored man, named Lewis Level, he doing
> nearly all of the work himself, the substantial quality of which shows
> great skill.  This was one of the very few brick buildings then
> erected along the mountains, and was quite conspicuous.


Dr. Douglas Day
Executive Director
Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society
200 Second St., NE
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434-296-1492
www.albemarlehistory.org



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