Rural Plains

A photograph of the Rural Plains house, the ancestral home of the Shelton family for nearly three centuries. The persons in the photograph are Miss Mary Shelton, daughter of the owner; Robert D. Meade, a Patrick Henry biographer; and Miss Elizabeth Rudasill, the assistant of Robert Meade at the time this photograph was taken.

The house was built on a 5,000-acre land grant said to have been given to the Sheltons by James I in 1609. However, given its exterior design, it was most likely built in the early or mid-eighteenth century by John Shelton, the grandfather of Sarah Shelton. After John's death, the property was inherited by his son, also named John Shelton, who then married Eleanor Parks, daughter of Williamsburg printer William Parks.

Patrick Henry married John and Eleanor's youngest daughter, Sarah, in late 1754 at Rural Plains. They were believed to have been childhood friends since Studley plantation, where Patrick was born, was a few miles to the east of the house. It is believed that his uncle, Reverend Patrick Henry, performed the ceremony for the couple in the parlor of the home in front of the fireplace.

Robert Meade wrote a two-volume biography on Patrick Henry, entitled "Patrick Henry: Patriot in the Making" and "Patrick Henry: Practical Revolutionary" respectively.