May, 1909 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
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Historic Mansions 
of the 
Rappahannock River 
“Sabine Hall” 
One of the Famous 
Carter Homesteads in Virginia 
By Edith Dabney 
N THE north bank of the Rappahannock 
River as one sails up the high-banked 
stream, lie the historic acres of Sabine Hall, 
one of the famous Carter homesteads in 
Virginia. While not an original grant, the 
Sabine Hall estate of two thousand acres is 
formed of several, including the Under- 
wood and Fauntleroy tracts patented in 1650 and bought up 
by Col. Landon Carter in early 1700. 
The father of Colonel Carter, Robert, known as ‘‘King”’ 
Carter, was the first of the name in Virginia, having come 
from England in 1649, and the son of John and Sarah Lud- 
lowe Carter. “King” Carter’s first wife was Judith Armi- 
stead, and the second, Mrs. Elizabeth Willis, daughter of 
Thomas and Mary Landon, of Grednal in the County of 
Hereford, the ancient seat of the Landon family. Of the ten 
children springing from this union Landon, the eighth, mar- 
ried first Elizabeth Wormeley, of Rosegill; second, Maria 
Byrd, of Westover, and, lastly, a Miss Beale; thus it is that 
the Carter name is so intermingled with the Fitzhughs, 
Berkeleys, Champes, Skipwiths, Nelsons, Lees, Braxtons, 
Randolphs, and many others equally distinguished. 
The manor house of Sabine Hall, built on early Georgian 
lines, was erected by “King” Carter for his son in 1730, since 
when it has passed direct from father to son until two gener- 
ations ago, when it would have reverted to a daughter, Mrs. 
Wellford, had she not died before her father, Col. Robert 
Wormeley Carter, who was succeeded in the ownership of 
the superb estate by his grandson, Mr. Robert Carter Well- 
ford, the present possessor. A clearly emphasized fact is 
that throughout its existence Sabine Hall has remained in 
the possession of the original line of Carters, which is par- 
ticularly gratifying, as in only too many beautiful old home- 
steads ‘‘some stranger fills the Stuarts’ throne.” 
H. Landon Carter 
Mrs. Carter 
Councillor Carter 
Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds in ] 749 
FAMILY PORTRAITS AT SABINE HALL 
