Bassett Hall, Williamsburg, Virginia, a Look into the Past

Bassett Hall sits in Colonial Williamsburg on 585 acres of land. The white farmhouse was built in the mid 18th century. The house is full of history and has been home to some well-known guests during its lifetime.

In 1753 a member of the House of Burgesses, Philip Johnson, began the work of building the home that would in future years be called Bassett Hall. The home was completed in 1766 and in 1800 it was purchased by a Virginia congressman named Burwell Bassett, who also happened to be the nephew of Martha Washington .

One of the most interesting stories relating to Bassett Hall is that of a Union soldier who stayed as a guest in the decidedly Confederate household in the midst of the Civil War. It was right after the Battle of Williamsburg that Union soldier George Armstrong Custer stayed as a guest of Bassett .

The home is a frame house and as such was very vulnerable to the effects of time. In addition to the normal wear from the elements, the home was badly damaged in a 1927 fire. At that time, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his wife Abby Aldrich Rockefeller were in the middle of a project to restore Colonial Williamsburg .

When they first took on the project, they did not know how time consuming and labor intensive it would be. The couple was very dedicated to the project and therefore insisted on being on site whenever there were major decisions to be made .

Because of the amount of time they needed to spend in Williamsburg, they decided to purchase a home there. They purchased Bassett Hall in the early 1930's and began to restore the home. Abby decorated the home with a large folk art collection that was later donated to Colonial Williamsburg and is now part of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum in Williamsburg.

Bassett Hall became one of the favorite homes of the Rockefellers, and it remained in their family until 1979. At that time is was donated back to Colonial Williamsburg along with all of the homes furniture and much of the decor.

The home is now open to the public as part of Colonial Williamsburg. A visitor from Florida wrote that "Bassett Hall is off the main road and hidden from view...Most of the artifacts in the home are from the Rockefellers. The home is beautiful, with fantastic chandeliers and folk art'' .

As confirmed by the visitor, the home today looks much as it did during the time that the Rockefellers called in home in the 1930's and 1940's. The restoration project, which began in the year 2000, took two years to complete. Today Bassett Hall stands as one of the most important historic buildings in Colonial Williamsburg.