Who Lived There?

 

These Trustee’s minutes record the hiring of the first Steward, Andrew Scott, and outlines the duties of the Steward. The transcription says that the "Steward is to find sufficient good wholesome Diet for the students of said Academy that shall apply to him for the same. Make their beds and keep the rooms clean for which he the said Steward is to have for each students so provided the sum of six pounds ten shillings a year one third of the money to be paid in hand at entrance yearly and be provided in a Kitchen and Dining Room with a table and seats." The first steward that the Academy hired was Mr. Andrew Scott.

This shell edged plate is a decorative plate that was prevalent in North America from the 1790s to the 1860s. It is the type of plate that students would have eaten off of in the Steward’s House.

This plate is an example of an early lead glazed creamware that dates back to the 1790s. It serves as an example of the kind of plate that the Steward may have owned.

These Trustee’s Minutes date to April 22, 1801, and they detail the resignation of Robert Scott, one of the Stewards. 

This metal file is evidence that a blacksmith lived and worked at the Steward’s House after the Liberty Hall Academy burned down. It would have been used to file rough edges off of metal products.

This plate is painted in a technique that was invented in the 1820s, so it dates to after the period of the Academy. It serves as evidence that the house was occupied well after Liberty Hall Academy burned down. The plate itself is also burnt, which probably occurred when the Steward’s house burned down in the 1930s.

This plate is transfer printed pearlware, a kind of ceramic that was not prevalent until the 1820s, so it certainly dates to the period after Liberty Hall Academy burnt down.

This is a mule shoe showing that the Steward’s house was part of a farm after the campus moved closer to the town of Lexington in 1803. According to oral history, the Steward’s house was occupied until the early 20th century.

In the 1970s, John McDaniel, a professor at Washington and Lee, led a team of researchers in the excavation and analysis of many back campus sites including the Steward’s house.

This is an ironstone plate printed in the flow blue technique that was invented in Staffordshire, England. This technique was not invented until 1820, so this plate dates to the period after the Liberty Hall fire.