About this property
Gaymont, or Gay Mont, is a historic home located at Port Royal, Caroline County, Virginia. Originally called "Rose Hill", the central section of the house was built about 1790 by John Hipkins as a two-story frame structure with a gable roof and two exterior end chimneys. His grandson and heir, John Hipkins Bernard, renamed the house in honor of his wife, Jane Gay Bolling Robertson, a descendant of Pocahontas. It was enlarged in 1819 with the addition of flanking one-story stuccoed brick wings and a one-story colonnade of stuccoed brick Tuscan columns. In 1834 a one-story octagonal music room was added and in 1839 an octagonal library and office at the ends of each wing. Except for a brief 18-month change in ownership in 1958–1959, the house remained in the Bernard-Robb family until 2007 at which time it transferred to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. A family cemetery with almost 40 graves is set just to the north of the house along the forest edge. In June 1959, a fire of debated origin destroyed the frame center section and octagonal music room. Shortly after the fire, Frances Bernard Robb Upton Patton, the great-granddaughter of John Hipkins Bernard, repurchased the property that she and her cousins had previously sold. Together with her husband James S. Patton, she rebuilt the house and restored the garden along their original lines. This time, the center section was built as a stuccoed masonry structure and the music room foundation left as a patio. Also on the property is a contributing early brick outbuilding, probably the original kitchen. The Patton's donated the house, contents, and land to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities in 1975 with life tenancy for the donors. In 2007, APVA took ownership and subsequently sold it to John and Billings Cay of Charleston, SC who began a multimillion-dollar renovation of the house, including rebuilding the octagonal music room. They renamed the property "Rose Hill" as it was originally. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
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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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Questions about this property
When was Gay Mont listed on the National Register?
Gay Mont was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 18, 1972.
What type of historic resource is Gay Mont?
Gay Mont is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Gay Mont?
The period of significance for Gay Mont is recorded as the early_republic era, specifically around 1790.
Can I research the history near Gay Mont?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Gay Mont will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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