October, 1907 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 375 



Historic Mansions of the James River 



II. " Shirley," the Ancestral Home of the Carters 



By Francis Durando Nichols 



N THE northern bank of the James River, 

 just as it widens and broadens in it de- 

 scent from Richmond, lies "Shirley," 

 the homestead of the old Virginia family 

 of Carters, one of the most interesting of 

 the Colonial homes in this region, and 

 one of the oldest properties now occu- 

 pied by the descendants of the original families in this 

 country. 



The Mansion House of "Shirley" was built by Col. 

 Edward Hill, who died in 1700, and is buried in the family 

 burial ground, which is under a grove of tulip poplars be- 

 yond the garden and to the east of the mansion. His 

 daughter Elizabeth married, in 1723, John Carter, of "Co- 

 rotoman," the eldest son of "King Carter." She brought 

 "Shirley" into the possession of the Carter family as the 

 heiress of her brother Edward Hill. John Carter was edu- 

 cated in England and studied law at the Inner Temple. He 

 was appointed, in 1722, Secretary of Virginia. His widow, 

 a celebrated beauty of her time, later became the wife of 

 Bowler Cocke, who after his wife's death held by courtesy 

 the estate until 177 i, when it became the property of Secre- 

 tary Carter's eldest son, Charles Carter, who was the first 

 of the Carter family to occupy "Shirley." The latter's sister 

 Elizabeth became the wife of Col. William Byrd, of "West- 

 over." Charles Carter was born in 1732, and in 1752 he 

 attended William and Mary College at Williamsburg. He 

 was burgess from Lancaster County, from 1758 to 1775, 

 was a member of the conventions of Virginia during the 



Revolutionary period, and first State council in 1776. He 

 was on intimate terms with George Washington, with whom 

 he visited and corresponded. He married first his cousin, 

 Mary W., a daughter of Charles Carter, of "Cleve," and 

 second, Ann Butler, daughter of Bernard Moore, of Chelsea, 

 King William County, and granddaughter of Governor 

 Spotswood. Their daughter Anne married Gen. Henry 

 Lee, of Stratford, Va., who later became the parents of Gen. 

 Robert E. Lee. 



Charles Carter was noted for his kindness and generosity, 

 and the hospitalities he extended to the first families of Vir- 

 ginia during his mastership of "Shirley" were distinctive in 

 their elegance and magnificence. He died in 1806, and the 

 estate passed into the hands of Dr. Robert Carter, who was 

 born in 1774, and married Mary, daughter of Gen. Thomas 

 Nelson, of Yorktown. From him it descended to his eldest 

 son. Hill Carter, who was born in 1796, was an officer of 

 the LInited States Navy in 18 12, and married Mary Braxton, 

 daughter of Col. Robert Randolph. Upon the decease of 

 Hill Carter the estate became the property of his son, Robert 

 Randolph Carter, a lieutenant in the United States Army, 

 who was the fifth Carter owner of "Shirley." He married 

 Louise Humphreys. The present owner, Mrs. Alice Carter 

 Bransford, is a daughter of Robert and Louise Carter, being 

 the sixth owner in a direct line from the first Carter of 

 "Shirley." 



When Charles Carter, grandson of Robert Carter, known 

 as "King Carter," married, in 1770, Ann Butler Moore, and 

 took his bride to "Shirley," he made extensive alterations, 



The Side Porch 



A Garden Walk 



