STAUNTON HILL 



TAUNTON HILL is situated in Charlotte County, 

 about forty miles southeast of Lynchburg, on the 

 Staunton, really the Roanoke River, for the latter, 

 as John Randolph of Roanoke once said, passes 

 for a considerable distance incog., under the name 

 of the Staunton. 

 The tract of some six hundred acres, on which the Staunton 

 Hill mansion stands, was acquired by James Bruce, in 1803, and 

 was afterwards enlarged by purchases of adjoining lands, made 

 from time to time, by James Bruce and his son, Charles. The 

 former resided at Woodburn, in Halifax County, and it was not 

 until 1848 that the house at Staunton Hill was erected by Charles 

 Bruce, on the six-hundred-acre tract just mentioned. This, with the 

 additions made to it by James and Charles Bruce, in 1896, the 

 year of the latter's death, amounted to five thousand and fifty- 

 two acres. 



The mansion is built in the Gothic style of architecture of 

 stuccoed brick with towers and battlements. The front porch is 

 constructed of marble, which was imported from Italy to Phila- 

 delphia. After being reduced to the proper shapes there, it was 

 conveyed by sea to Albemarle Sound, and thence by bateaux up the 

 Roanoke River to the Staunton Hill estate. 



One of the most striking features of the house is the well-nigh 

 perfect proportion of its external details. Extending back from 

 the rear there is a colonnade about two hundred feet long. The 

 roof of this is supported by iron pillars painted white, and the 

 floor is flagged with large granite blocks. Along it are ranged 

 the kitchen, laundry and service quarters. From the west side of 

 the house projects a conservatory, and a short distance to the south- 

 vrest of this is a Gothic outbuilding of five rooms. This is known 



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