SHERWOOD FOREST - HOME OF PRESIDENT JOHN TYLER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP05T00644R000300920006-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 20, 2009
• Sequence Number: 6
• Content Type: MISC

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SHERWOOD FOREST - Home of President John Tyler
Located in Charles City County on Route #5
near the Benjamin Harrison Bridge.
BERKELEY - Birthplace of Benjamin Harrison
Located on Route #5.
Both of the above are open daily including
Sundays from 9:00 am. to 5:00 n.m.
ADMITTANCE - $2.50 each
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S,4ekw00r, Fesr
The entrance (R) to SIiERWOOD FOREST (R) is-at 34 m. This was the
home of John Tyler, who became President of the United States, and
birthplace of his son, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, long president of the College
of William and Mary and eminent Virginia historian.
Though the estate has the James as one of its boundaries, the house is a
mile or more from the river. The frame structure rambles from a two-and.
a-half-story central unit through lower wings and dependencies, all con-
nected by passageways, to a total length of about 300 feet.
In 1842 President Tyler purchased the estate, called Walnut Grove,
from Collier Minge and remodeled a Colonial house on it. Lateral addi-
tions from time to time finally produced the present structure, completed
during ownership of David Gardiner Tyler (x846-1927). Among memcn-
?tos preserved here is the silver pitcher that was presented to President Ty-
ler by the ladies of Brazoria County, Texas, upon the admission of the
`Lone Star State' in 1845. Though it was burned black in the Richmond
.fire of 1865, its inscription is still legible.
John Tyler (1790-1862), born at Greenway (see above), a stone's throw
from the birthplace of the Whig President whom he. succeeded in the
White House, was graduated from the College of William and Mary,
served as Virginia assemblyman, congressional representative and sena-
tor, and as governor of his State. Though he cast his lot with the Whigs in
1833 and with the Democrats in 1844, neither party could claim his whole-
hearted allegiance or ever gave him its support. In 1840 the Whigs nom-
inated William H. Harrison for the presidency, and Tyler for the vice-
presidency, because they thought he could hold the southern Whigs who
were being deflected from the party by antislavery agitation. When Pres-
ident Harrison died one month after his inauguration and was succeeded
by Tyler, storms, long gathering, broke immediately. Tyler had become
the nominal leader of a party whose policies he actually disapproved;
Henry. Clay remained the real Whig leader. Congressional debates were
focused upon the occupation of the Oregon country and the annexation of
Texas. Slavery and the extension or limitation of slaveholding territory
were the real issues. The Whig President, who was a Calhoun Democrat,
favored annexing Texas, a vast slaveholding country, and defied the
Whigs who had elected him. Though neither party renominated him in
1844, the election of James K. Polk, Democrat and annexationist, was in a
sense a vindication of Tyler's policy and enabled him to sign the annexa-
tion bill shortly before the inauguration of his successor.
In 1845 Tyler retired to Sherwood Forest. In 1861 the Virginia legisla-
ture commissioned him to confer with President Buchanan concerning
Federal occupation of Fort Sumter. On February 4, 1861, he presided over
the ineffectual peace conference in Washington, from which he returned to
urge secession. After his State had seceded, Tyler was made chairman of
the committee that conferred with Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President
of the Confederate States, who had been sent to Richmond to form a
treaty of alliance between Virginia and the Confederate Government. He
was a member of the provisional Confederate Congress and was elected to
the permanent congress January 18, 1862, but died before that body met.
At 34.5 m. is a junction with County 618.
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Plantation
fora President
Fabulous restoration
of the house where
President Tyler lived,
worked, and danced
the Virginia reel-
now open for visitors
to share its treasures.
When President Tyler left office in 1845, he retired with his bride,
Julia Gardiner, to a 1730 house on 1,600 acres along the James
River in Charles City County, Virginia. He renamed it Sherwood
Forest (for Robin Hood, whom he admired for putting public
welfare before private gain), and added a colonnade and a ball-
room, making it the longest frame house (300 feet) in the United
States. The house was scarred by Union occupancy during the
War Between the States, yet today, owned by the President's
youngest grandson, Harrison R. Tyler, the house stands complete-
ly restored, and its 1,600 acres are still a working, family owned
plantation.
Above: The Gray room, President Tyler's family sitting room,
which takes its name from "The Gray Lady," a ghost said to
have haunted it for 200 years. On the President's table is
one of his books, with the mark of a burn and rifle-shot dating
from the occupation by Union troops. Stools were gifts from
the Thomas Jefferson family. Right: The dining room, with
original French china, and wallpaper pattern chosen by his
wife. The original paper, ordered from France in 1844, was
removed and copied in 1976. The gilded valances were
bought by the President's mother-in-law for $7.50 apiece.
White Spode tea set belonged to Meriwether Lewis. Top:
Sherwood Forest, a working plantation, open to the public.
AN H&G MUSEUM HOUSE
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 Above: A bedroom on the second floor, fur-
nished mostly with antique family pieces in-
herited by Mrs. Harrison R. Tyler. Framed fans
on the wall are American 19th century. Shaving
stand on Queen Anne table is Charleston
Hepplewhite. Linen bedspread with patterned
chintz cutouts dates from first half of 18th cen-
tury. Top, left: The drawing room. On tea table
(Baltimore, circa 1770), tea set sent to Presi-
dent by Emperor Tao Kuang in gratitude for
opening trade routes to China. Left: The ball-
room, 68 feet long, designed by the President's
wife for Virginia reels. Hand-hewn pine floor.
Right: A corner of drawing room: 1720 Boulle
clock, 1750 English petit-point fire screen,
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PLANTATION FOR A PRESIDENT
he house is alive with irresistible history:
The ballroom was designed for reels; the
living room was once the President's bed-
room, where he and his First Lady often break-
fasted in bed; and in the drawing-room window
stands an 1830s teapot with a lock : At the time,
tea in Virginia was selling for $80 a pound.
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When the Present Tylers began restorin
h
h
g t
e
ouse, only a thir of the original
furniture was still intact. But, using Julia Tyler's voluminous and enthusiastic
correspondence as a source of reference, they matched colors, copied wall-
papers, and added other heirlooms brought in by later Tyler brides, notably
Mrs. Harrison Tyler herself, who directed the entire restoration. Matching
foundation bricks, floors, doors, and paneling were found in two neighboring
I 8th-century houses, one of them formerly a Tyler property. Among the
original furnishings ordered by President Tyler's wife for the house, and still
in place today, are: a silver cake basket on the dining room table, and two
pairs of girandoles bought for $37.50 a pair. All the door knockers and knobs
were chosen by the President himself. Sherwood Forest is now a National
Historic Landmark. It is located on State Rte. 5, 18 miles west of Williams-
burg, and open to the public daily from 9 to 5 except on Christmas day. For
information write Sherwood Forest, Charles City County, Va, 23030.
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9ERELEy
Right here to BEtLEY (R), 0.2 m., the birthplace of a signer of the Declaration of
Independence-Benjamin Harrison-of a president of the United States-William
Henry Harrison-and ancestral home of another president-Benjamin Harrison.
Berkeley stands between detached dependencies at the head of low terraced gardens
above the James. Its warm red brick walls rise two stories to a deep cornice beneath a
massive gabled roof. Two tall chimneys pierce the ridge near the ends above widely
spaced dormers.
The chalk white of an unusual quantity of interior hand-tooled woodwork is accen-
tuated by plaster-tinted walls. The spacious, deeply corniced, transverse hall is broken
midway by a broad elliptical arch springing from fluted pilasters. A pair of drawing
rooms are attractively joined by double-arched openings that flank their common
chimney. A glass panel in the wall now reveals'B.Ilarrison,' traced undoubtedly by
the builder in the temptingly wet base plaster.
The estate was a part of Berkeley Hundred, a grant made to Sir George Yeardley,
Richard Berkeley, and others in 16x9. The proprietors instructed the settlers of the
'Town and Hundred' that 'the day of our ships arrival ... shall be yearly and per-
petually kept as a day of Thanksgiving.' The .lfargaret landed her passengers at
Berkeley, December 4, r6rq-a year and 57 days before the Pilgrims arrived to estab-
lish their Thanksgiving Day.
Abandoned after the massacre of 5622, the Hundred was later acquired by John
Bland, whose ,on Giles lived here until executed for his part in Bacon's Rebellion.
Confiscated by Governor Berkeley, the land was purchased by Benjamin Harrison
(5673-57x0), attorney-general of the colony, treasurer and speaker of the house of bur-
gesses. Benjamin Harrison, his son, began to build this mansion in 126. With two
daughters, he was killed by lightning during a 'violent Thunder Gust in July 1745.
His son, Benjamin Harrison (x726-91), who installed the handsome interior wood-
work, was the signer, a governor of Virginia, and father of William Henry Harrison
(1773-1841), who emigrated to the Ohio Territory. William Henry Harrison achieved
his distinction in the Northwest Territory, of which he was the first secretary, and
which he represented in Congress.'The victory of Tippecanoe in 1811 gave him a last-
ing epithet and ig years later the campaign slogan that won for the Harrison-Tyler
Whig ticket success at the polls. IIe died, however, one month after his inauguration.
His grandson, Benjamin Harrison visited his ancestral home as President of the
United States.
Benedict Arnold plundered Berkeley in 178r, and the estate, called Harrison's Land-
ing, served as a base and camping-round for the Federal armyaf ter McClellan's with-
drawal from Malvern Hill. Near 1s transports and under protection of gunboats, Afc-
Clellan was safe from attack by pursuing Confederate infantry, who stopped short of -
the river. Though McClellan remained in this position until mid-August, Lee began to
withdraw his army on July 13, to oppose General John Pope in northern Virginia.
On the same road WESTOVER, at 2.3 M. (grounds open daily, adm. Si; house open
April Garden Week), once home of the Byrd family and one of the earliest houses huilt
on the grand scale in Virginia, stands at the end of a road that winds between woods
and fields. Gates of wrought-iron, made in England long ago, swing between simple
posts on which are perched two leaden eagles with half-spread wings. The over-throw
is probably the finest piece of old English ironwork in America. The dark red brick
mansion looks upon the James across a semi-elliptical lawn framed by great tulip pop-
lar trees. Flanked by a pair of story-and-a-half wings connected by passages, the cen-
tral rectangular mass rises two stories to a steep hipped roof, with dormers. Windows
with shutters and low-arched headings of brick are evenly spaced in two tiers, sepa-
rated by a string course of brick painted white. The extremely tall chimneys, in pairs at
both ends, are important features of the composition. But the exterior chiefly depends
for accent on the centered entrances, which are framed by pilasters that support a
frieze, cornice, and elaborate pediment. The pediment over the north portal is seymien-
tal, while the cornice of the pediment over the garden door is of the broken scroll type
with the scrolls framing a pineapple. Within, four large rooms are divided by a trans.
verse hall. The walls are paneled between high dadoes and deep cornices. At the back
of the wide hall, an open-string stairway with scroll step-ends ascends behind delicate
spiral. balusters in sets of three. On the east side, next to the library, where once reposed
Colonel Byrd's outstanding collection of almost 4,000 volumes, is the drawing room.
Tall pilasters frame the doors and the mantel, which is faced with black marble having
a white marble trim-imported from Italy.
Westover Plantation was selected by Captain Francis West in 1619 for his nephew
Henry, son and heir of Thomas, third Lord Delaware. At the time of the massacre of
1622 Francis, John, and Nathaniel West had separate plantations here; the Indians
killed two men at each. In 1633 Thomas Pawlett represented the plantations in the
house of burgesses and in 1637 purchased the Westover tract. The Bland family to
1688 conveyed 1,200 of these acres to 'Will Bird' for #300 and io,ooo pounds of to
bacco. This first William Byrd, son of a London goldsmith, had settled at' The Falls,'
where he founded a business fortune. His son, William Byrd II (1674-1744), built the
present mansion and a tradition of abundant living. Construction, begun about i 730,
was completed before 5735. Westover suffered early from two fires, the last in 1149.
Most of the fine interior trim was probably installed during the second renovation.
The 'Black Swan,' as Colonel William Byrd II was called, wrote amusing records of
his travels about Virginia and spent a good deal of his life in London, where, as a
grandee from the 'new wilderness,' he astonished society with his elegance. lie
thwarted the romance of his eldest daughter with the Catholic son of the dissolute
Earl of Peterborough and the beautiful Evelyn Byrd returned to Westover, where she
died at the age of 28, a disconsolate spinster. The other five cygnets, four daughters
and a son, offspring of two marriages, married well into the 'closed corporation' of
Tidewater society. Byrd's tomb in the garden bears. his long, self-composed epitaph,
which leaves a reader equally impressed by the record of his remarkable accom[pluli-
ments and his serene egotism in thus advertising them. The son, William Byrd Ill,
was a prodigious gambler and dissipated the family fortune.
During the Revolution Benedict Arnold landed here more than once and corre-
sponded regularly with the Byrd family, whose Tory sympathies are clearly shown in
letters written later by Cornwallis. He said in part to the Lords of the Treasury is
1789, 'She f Mrs.Byrd) had, to my knowledge, reason to expect that she should receive
reimbursement at New York for the supplies which were furnished from her plants.
tion to the various corps of British troops which passed by Westover, but she was ut-
terly disappointed tin her claim for #6,600).' Cornwallis refers also to the hyrds as
'sufferers of a certain description.' But Arthur Lee guessed correctly when he wrote
to Colonel Bland in 1781: 'I have reason to think she [Alrs.Byrdl will not be tried at
all, because care having been taken to keep the witnesses out of the way.' Sales and
good marriage alliances dispersed a large collection of portraits belonging to a family
that has been an outstanding contributor to Virginia s tradition of expansive sudal
life.
During the War between the States, the fields and lawns were frequented by Fed-
eral troops, who destroyed the east wing and damaged the main building. The house
has, however, been restored, fairly well, on the whole, though the symmetry of Doe
dependency has been altered.
At the site of the church are horizontal slabs-one of them covering the dust of the
first Benjamin Harrison of Berkeley--and Evelyn's elaborate tomb. Here also is the
tombstone of Captain William Perry, who died the '6th day of August Anno Domini
1637.'
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