Maple Hall Plantation

Benjamin Borden, an early Virginia land speculator, was granted 100,000 acres in what is now Rockbridge County in 1735. He was required to fill the land with 100 families; he primarily recruited these settlers from Northern Ireland. His land company gave 270 acres of what was varyingly called the “Borden Tract” and the “Irish Tract” to Isaac Gray in 1751. Isaac Gray and his wife deeded the land to Jacob Gray the following year. By that time, the land was located in a strategic position; today’s US 11 was originally the path of the Old Valley Turnpike, while I-81/64 follows the former Great Valley Road. The latter was a major path for settlers headed through Virginia and into southern colonies. 

The estate was purchased by Edward Tarr in 1754. Tarr, also known as “Black Ned,” was a former slave who had worked in iron refineries for several owners in Pennsylvania before buying his freedom and moving to Virginia in 1752. Tarr was married to a Scottish woman; it is believed that he used a loophole in Pennsylvania and Virginia law to escape prosecution, since both states had made interracial marriage illegal. He was also a prominent member of the Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church, though he had been taught by Moravians in his old state (and was, in fact, fluent in German). This land sale made him, “the first African American real estate owner west of the Blue Ridge mountains.”[11] He operated a successful Blacksmith shop and forge; it was the only such establishment in the area and also catered to passing travelers. In fear of attacks during the French and Indian War, Tarr returned to Pennsylvania from 1757 to 1759. Local sentiments against him began to increase when he came back to Virginia with a second white woman, believed to be his mistress; he was even charged with both “harboring a common disturber of the peace” and “retailing strong beer without a license.”[17] Tarr moved to Staunton, Virginia, not long after but kept his land on Timber Ridge. In 1761, a man named Hugh Montgomery claimed that he had purchased Tarr from Joseph Shute, a South Carolina trader and son of Thomas Shute, Tarr’s last master. Tarr was able to present the elder Shute’s will (which allowed him to purchase his freedom) and evidence of his payments. While Tarr was required to pay a bond of 500 pounds, when the trial date came, Tarr appeared but Montgomery did not and the case was rejected. In 1772, Alexander Stuart began eyeing Tarr’s land for the falls along its creek, which he believed could be used for milling operations. He sent Samuel McChesney as a mediator to purchase the land so as not to inform Tarr that he was interested in using the land for a business, which he believed would cause Tarr to charge more for the property. McChesney seemed to succeed, buying the land for 45 pounds, 15 pounds less than what Tarr paid for it originally. However, McChesney then decided to keep it for himself. Stuart took McChesney to court, but didn’t receive ownership of the land until 1776. He gave some of the land to Liberty Hall Academy (now Washington and Lee University) the same year. He did build a grist mill and sawmill along the creek, which is now known as Mill Creek. He also served as Major of a Virginia militia regiment during the Revolutionary War and fought with valor at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. 

The land eventually ended up in the possession of the Kinnear family; around 1824, a Federal-style dwelling, called the “Slave Quarters” but most likely the original main house, was constructed. The property was sold to John Beard Gibson in 1835. Gibson was a farmer and a very successful miller and distiller. Legend has it that he waited to build a new house on his property until he could afford to construct, “the grandest, largest, and most stylistically sophisticated structure in his neighborhood.”[5] While other buildings in the area were built in the Greek Revival style that Gibson so effectively employed at Maple Hall, no other house had such a well-adorned interior, which Gibson copied almost exactly from Asher Benjamin’s handbook The Practical House Carpenter. It is said that the finished product, “displays a sophisticated rendering of the Greek Revival style not exceeded in any other home in the county.”[5] An addition to the house might have been built in 1859 or it might, in fact, predate Maple Hall, which could have been located specifically to connect to this smaller structure. It is also believed that the VMI Corps of Cadets marched across his property on their way to the Battle of New Market in 1864. 

The property was owned by Gibson descendants until it was purchased by the Meredith family in 1984. They restored the buildings, among other things, replacing Maple Hall’s deteriorated wood floors with concrete and completely reconstructing the exterior staircase according to original plans. They also built a large restaurant and office addition onto the rear of the main house, a restroom addition onto the rear of the “Slave Quarters,” and another dwelling, the “Pond House”, on the grounds. They ran the property as an inn until it closed in 2012; it was then bought in 2014 by Phillip and Ava Clayton, who operate the property as an inn with a restaurant (the “Restaurant 1850”) as well as an event venue. Today, in addition to the three dwellings, the grounds have a pool, pond, tennis courts, and miles of walking trails for guests’ enjoyment.

1) 081-0041 Maple Hall, DRH: Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/081-0041/.

2) Abdi, Mona. Lexington man rebuilds after losing his bed and breakfast to a fire, ABC 13 News (WSET). May 9th 2016. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://wset.com/news/local/lexington-man-rebuilds-after-losing-his-bed-and-breakfast-to-a-fire.

3) Accomodations, Maple Hall Inn. Accessed March 7th 2020. http://maplehallinn.com/accommodations/.

4) Calello, Monique. Author talks about Valley's first Black landowner, News Leader. April 27th 2015. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/2015/04/22/author-talks-stauntons-first-Black-landowner-achs-banquet/26178581/.

5) Coffey, David W. Maple Hall, National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination Form, Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (now Virginia Department of Historic Resources). January 29th 1987. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/VLR_to_transfer/PDFNoms/081-0041_Maple_Hall_1987_Final_Nomination.pdf.

6) The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Asher Benjamin, Encyclopaedia Britannica. July 22nd 2019. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Asher-Benjamin.

7) Fellow Travelers on the Road to Black Ned’s Forge by Turk McCleskey, Virginia Museum of History & Culture. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://www.virginiahistory.org/read-watch-listen/video-and-audio/fellow-travelers-road-Black-ned%E2%80%99s-forge-turk-mccleskey-0.

8) Hofstra, Warren, and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Benjamin Borden (1675–1743), Encyclopedia Virginia: Virginia Humanities. November 10th 2016. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Borden_Benjamin_1675-1743.

9) Home, Maple Hall Inn. Accessed March 7th 2020. http://maplehallinn.com/.

10) J.E.B Stuart; Biographies; Learn, American Battlefield Trust. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/j-e-b-stuart.

11) Kidd, Thomas S. American Colonial History: Clashing Cultures and Faiths. New Haven, CT. Yale University Press, 2016. pp. 240 - 241. Google Books. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://books.google.com/books?id=vyHUCwAAQBAJ&dq=edward+tarr+Black+ned&source=gbs_navlinks_s.

12) Maple Hall Country Inn; Places to Stay, Virginia Is For Lovers. May 8th 2017. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://www.virginia.org/listings/PlacesToStay/MapleHallCountryInn/.

13) McCleskey book proves such works should be more common, The Roanoke Times. December 7th 2014. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/mccleskey-book-proves-such-works-should-be-more-common/article_26296250-a53e-5d67-8a9f-bc4dbc1180de.html.

14) Our History, Maple Hall Inn. Accessed March 7th 2020. http://maplehallinn.com/our-history/.

15) Reed, David. Artisan's Past on Frontier is Chronicled, The Washington Post. February 12th 1994. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/realestate/1994/02/12/artisans-past-on-frontier-is-chronicled/85ddddb1-78e2-41ec-878b-96a793904b29/.

16) The Road to Black Ned's Forge, The University of Virginia Press. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/4737.

17) Todt, Kim. Todt on McCleskey, 'The Road to Black Ned's Forge: A Story of Race, Sex, and Trade on the Colonial American Frontier', H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online: H-SAWH (Southern Association for Women Historians). May 2015. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://networks.h-net.org/node/2295/reviews/69169/todt-mccleskey-road-Black-neds-forge-story-race-sex-and-trade-colonial.

18) Weierman, Karen Woods. The Road to Black Ned's Forge: A Story of Race, Sex, and Trade on the Colonial American Frontier by Turk McCleskey (review). The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 141, no. 1, pp. 91 - 92. Published January 2017. Project MUSE. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/686408.

19) Woltz & Associates. Maple Hall Historic Inn to sell at auction, CISION: PR Newswire. March 18th 2014. Accessed March 7th 2020. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/maple-hall-historic-inn-to-sell-at-auction-250805791.html.