Thank you, Dr. Day. I knew there was a good history to this interesting
house that I stumbled on. I appreciate your researching it for me.

Lonny Watro

----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas Day" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 2:40 PM
Subject: Re: Belmont of Keswick Hunt County (sic) near Monticello


> 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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