Watercolor of Scotch Town

This watercolor depicts the house and outbuildings at Scotch Town, one of the plantations owned by Patrick Henry. The small building on the left is believed to be the kitchen and the one on the right is the laundry.

Built in 1719 by Charles Chiswell, a planter and iron mine owner, he was given the property in a land grant in 1717 and used it as a tobacco plantation. After he died in 1737, a series of events caused the property to pass through several hands including his son, John Chiswell, who was accused of murder and allegedly faked his death to escape trial. Henry purchased the house from an unnamed seller in 1771 and lived there with his first wife, Sarah Shelton, and their six children. Here, he cleared nearly 400 acres of land to grow mainly tobacco and wheat that were harvested by thirty enslaved workers.

Patrick Henry's residence at Scotch Town saw several major life events unfold, including the death of Sarah in February 1775 and his election to the First and Second Continental Congresses. It was from Scotch Town that Henry rode to St. John's Church in Richmond to deliver his famous "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech just weeks after Sarah's passing. The Congress later appointed him commander-in-chief of all Virginia forces, and he won elections as delegate to the First, Second, Third, and Fifth Virginia Revolutionary Conventions; the Fifth declared Virginia as independent and adopted the 1776 Constitution and Virginia Declaration of Rights. On June 29, 1776, Patrick Henry was elected the first governor of Virginia and despite residing in the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg, Henry still oversaw Scotch Town until 1778.

The property then passed through several hands until landing in those of John M. Sheppard-Taylor in 1801, whose families added a lean-to and porch and rearranged the interior to suit a 19th-century dwelling. The property fell into disrepair and was ordered to be auctioned by the Hanover Circuit Court. It was sold to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, now known as Preservation Virginia, in 1958. The house has since undergone attempts to restore it to its original appearance, including returning the chimneys to their original positions, removing the 19th-century additions, and reconstructing an ice house.