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Birthplace of Patrick Henry

Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in VirginiaBirthplaces of individual peopleCentral Virginia Registered Historic Place stubsHanover County, VirginiaHomes of United States Founding Fathers
National Register of Historic Places in Hanover County, VirginiaPatrick HenryUse mdy dates from August 2023
Patrick Henry Birthplace
Patrick Henry Birthplace

The Birthplace of Patrick Henry (1736–1799), the Founding Father and American statesman from Virginia, was a farmhouse called "Studley", located in what is now the village of Studley in Hanover County, Virginia. The house, a two-story brick structure, was built in the 1720s by John Symes, whose wife Sarah married Patrick Henry's father John after Symes died. Patrick Henry was born in the house on May 29, 1736. By 1796 the farmstead included a significant number of outbuildings. The house was destroyed by fire in 1807, and now only archaeological remnants remain.There is an interpretive plaque near the site at 9620 Studley Farms Drive. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Birthplace of Patrick Henry (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Birthplace of Patrick Henry
Studley Farms Drive,

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N 37.669113 ° E -77.290977 °
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Studley Farms Drive 9486
23116
Virginia, United States
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Patrick Henry Birthplace
Patrick Henry Birthplace
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Battle of Haw's Shop
Battle of Haw's Shop

The Battle of Haw's Shop or Enon Church was fought on May 28, 1864, in Hanover County, Virginia, as part of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War. Grant abandoned the stalemate following the Battle of North Anna (May 23–26) by once again swinging widely around Lee's right flank, using the Pamunkey River to screen his movements to the southwest. Lee's army moved directly south and took up positions on the southern bank of Totopotomoy Creek. The Confederate general sent a cavalry force under Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton to collect intelligence about Grant's next moves. On May 28, Hampton's troopers encountered Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. David McM. Gregg. Fighting predominately dismounted and utilizing earthworks for protection, neither side achieved an advantage. Gregg was reinforced by two brigades of Brig. Gen. Alfred T.A. Torbert's division, and the brigade under Brig. Gen. George A. Custer launched a spirited attack just as Hampton was ordering his men to withdraw. The seven-hour battle was inconclusive, but it was the second significant cavalry engagement of the Overland Campaign and one of the bloodiest of the war. Both sides claimed victory. Union Cavalry Corps commander Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan bragged that his men had driven Hampton from the field and demonstrated the superiority of the Union cavalry. But Hampton had held up the Union cavalry for seven hours, prevented it from achieving its reconnaissance objectives, and had provided valuable intelligence to General Lee about disposition of Grant's army.

Polegreen Church
Polegreen Church

The Polegreen Church, also known as the Hanover Meeting House (and locally as the "ghost church"), is the site of what may be the first non-Anglican church in Virginia. It was named after a 17th-century landowner, George Polegreen.After Rev. George Whitefield preached at Bruton Parish Church at Williamsburg during the First Great Awakening, and his sermons were published, local mason Samuel Morris built a reading room or log cabin near Mechanicsville in rural Hanover County. In 1743, Virginia's colonial assembly permitted religious dissenters four meeting houses: three in Hanover County (including this one) and one in Henrico County; they were sometimes called "Morris churches".Pennsylvania Presbyterian missionary Samuel Davies, one of the first non-Anglican ministers licensed in Virginia, evangelized in Hanover County and used this as his base from 1743 to 1759. Patrick Henry attended services here with his mother, and credited Davies for his oratorical skills. In 1755, Davies helped organize what came to be known as the Hanover Presbytery, encompassing all Presbyterian ministers in Virginia and North Carolina. He also became known for writing hymns, and for educating slaves (unlike Methodist and Baptist evangelists). During the American Civil War, battle lines formed on opposite sides of Totopotomoy creek during the 1864 Overland Campaign as the Union army advanced on Richmond. Polegreen Church stood between them. A Confederate artillery shell fired to dislodge Union sharpshooters by a man whose father had been baptized at Polegreen hit the wooden building, which burned to the ground. The congregation could not afford to rebuild it.An open-air design of steel beams painted white to show the historic structure's former dimensions has been erected at the site, along with a visitor center and signage concerning religious persecution and freedom in Western civilization. The site now hosts various lectures (including on religious freedom in Virginia), as well as weddings and other private functions. The Polegreen Church site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. It is open to the public free of charge.