Scotchtown

Scotchtown, about a mile north of here, was built ca. 1719 for Charles Chiswell, a land speculator and iron mine owner. Patrick Henry bought the property by 1771 and lived there until he sold it in 1778. During these years he represented Virginia at the First and Second Continental Congresses, delivered his “Liberty or Death” speech in Richmond in March 1775, and served for six months as commander in chief of the Virginia militia. He also helped write the Virginia Constitution and Declaration of Rights and was elected the first governor of the independent Commonwealth of Virginia. Henry's first wife, Sarah, died at Scotchtown in 1775.