Fall Hill

About this property

Fall Hill is a plantation located near the falls on the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Though the Thornton family has lived at Fall Hill since the early 18th century, the present house was built in 1790 for Francis Thornton V (1760–1836). The land on which Fall Hill is located is part of an 8,000 acres (3,200 ha) land patent obtained by Francis Thornton I (1657–1727) around 1720. The present-day town of Fredericksburg, Virginia is located on that original patent. The mansion at Fall Hill (pictured) is a Georgian two-story home with a central hall and two large rooms on either side. Its roof is hipped and there are interior chimneys at each end. The outside walls are randomly glazed Flemish bond brickwork. In keeping with the Georgian design of the exterior, second floor window openings are proportionately smaller than those of the first floor. The home was remodeled around 1830 and, as a result of replacements to door and window frames, doors and sashes, the only original parts of the exterior are the walls, roof, and chimneys. During this remodeling, two windows on the front of the house were bricked over on both the first and second floors. Doric columns on the porches on the west front and south end were added in the 19th century. More recently, a larger Doric porch on the east front was removed. During renovations, Greek Revival fireplace mantels were installed in the northwest and southwest rooms. These have since been removed to expose the original segmental fireplace openings. The grounds surrounding the house contain many old trees in a wide variety of species. There are a number of gravel walks around the 'park-like' grounds. A hillside west of the house provides a view of nearby Fredericksburg. The land on which Fall Hill was established is believed to have been included in a grant of 8,000 acres (3,200 ha) in Spotsylvania County patented by Francis Thornton I (1657–1727) around 1720. Thornton belonged to one of Virginia's distinguished Colonial families. Upon settling in the area, Thornton established a home at The Falls, a plantation at the foot of Fall Hill within the present-day town of Fredericksburg. The family ran a grist mill on the Rappahannock River. It is said that Francis Thornton III (1711–1749) built the house on Fall Hill in order to escape the heat of the house at The Falls laying lower in elevation near the river. Francis Thornton III married Frances Gregory, daughter of Mildred Washington Gregory, aunt and godmother of George Washington. He served as a burgess, a trustee of Fredericksburg, and Colonel of the Spotsylvania militia. In 1749, Fall Hill was inherited by Colonel Thornton's son, Francis Thornton IV (1737–1794). However, he and his wife, Ann Thompson, maintained their primary residence at The Falls.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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