AIRWELL 



N the upper part of the County of Hanover 

 stands the old estate of Airwell, an original grant 

 from the English Crown to Thomas Nelson. His 

 grandson, Nelson Berkeley, of Middlesex, built the 

 house and moved thither about the year 1760. It 

 is interesting to note that his direct descendants still 

 own and occupy the place. 



It has been said that the bricks used in building the house were 

 brought from England. That, however, seems improbable. Not 

 only is the house too far from Tidewater for the transportation to 

 have been practicable, but it was the custom for plantations to have 

 their own brick-kilns. However, the Flemish bonding, the ample 

 thickness of the walls and the general lines and proportions of the 

 severely plain exterior, give the dwelling the unmistakable stamp 

 of its early period. 



When Tarleton with his English dragoons rode through the 

 neighborhood, on his raid from Williamsburg to Charlottesville, 

 he is said to have visited Airwell. It is certain that Lady Berkeley 

 (who before her marriage was Elizabeth Wormely Carter, of 

 Sabine Hall), is credited with having refused to give up to the new 

 county commissioners the church communion silver, which was in 

 her keeping and which they wished to confiscate as being English 

 government property. 



This silver, which is used when service is held in old "Fork" 

 Church, is still kept at Airwell by the descendants of Mrs. Berkeley, 

 to whom Bishop Meade referred as a "lady of dignity, firmness 

 and authority." 



On an ample lawn, surrounded by trees, Airwell house stands 

 today, a monument to the past. In 1836, it was seriously damaged 

 by fire, but in 1845 complete repairs were made. About twenty- 



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