a Portrait of Home

Down a long gravel path sits a historic home that has been part of one family's story for more than 250 years. Built around 1752 and later remodeled in the Greek Revival style, the home has passed through generations of the same family. When I recently had the opportunity to visit, I expected to find the history that comes with a house of this age. What I didn't expect was to find so much of the family's history still present within its walls.

As I entered the center passage, I was greeted by a beautiful hand-painted mural wrapping around the room. The steward of the home welcomed me and began pointing out the details. Painted in 1937, the mural depicts the home, the surrounding landscape and pieces of everyday family life. Inspired by the scenic wallpapers popular during the early nineteenth century, the mural is beautiful on its own.

But this wasn't simply a landscape painted on the walls. It was their landscape.

The family home can be seen in the distance, while members of the family and pieces of everyday life are woven throughout the scenes. The stewards noted their grandfather sitting on his horse, Sterling Walker. There was Virginia Dare, the family's deer, along with other animals that had once been part of life here. As she pointed out each detail, the mural became more than something beautiful covering the walls. It became a portrait of the people who had called this place home.

The mural continues through the entryway and into the small corridor leading toward the dining room. Beneath it is the deep yellow woodwork you see today. The steward told me the wood had once been pickled and made the passage feel quite dark. Her mother eventually had it painted, choosing a color from a historic Colonial Williamsburg palette.

As I walked through the house, I began to notice the same thing in every room. There were remnants of the generations who had called this place home.

Off the entry is the parlor, where white walls and soft blue trim surround the windows and fireplace. Family portraits remain throughout the room, including a portrait of the steward's father above the mantel. She shared how much of his life he dedicated to ensuring the home remained part of the family.

That detail stayed with me as I continued through the house.

Beyond the mural-lined passage is the dining room, a space where generations of the family have gathered for meals and holidays. Portraits and paintings hang on the walls, while furniture and collected pieces remain throughout the room. For generations, this has been a place where people gathered. Many holiday celebrations have been held here over the years, and even today, the children of the current stewards still ask to have dinner parties in the home. It is a place deeply connected to their childhood memories.

As I went upstairs, where the three bedrooms are located, I noticed that two of the rooms contained more than one bed. They were reminders of a time when siblings and visiting family shared bedrooms. Standing there, I couldn't help but wonder about the conversations that must have taken place in those rooms over the years.

Eventually, I came to a bedroom with two beautiful canopy beds. "This was my room," the steward told me. There were no window treatments covering the windows, allowing the morning light to fill the room. She told me that growing up, she loved waking there because it felt as though she were sleeping among the trees.

Throughout my time in the home, I kept noticing the evidence of the generations who came before. Their photographs remain on the walls and tables. Their portraits hang above the mantels. Furnishings and collected pieces remain part of the rooms where generations of this family have lived and gathered.

For more than 250 years, this house has been part of one family's story. There have been childhoods here, holidays around the dining room table, conversations shared between siblings, hardships endured and memories carried forward.

The people who have called this place home are still very much a part of it. And together, all of those pieces create a portrait of home...not simply a historic house, but a place shaped by the generations who have loved and cared for it.

Capturing the stories held within these walls,
Renee