The latter has elaborated sawn brackets, a square newel, a molded rail, and three turned balusters to a tread.Ī small outbuilding, originally serving as an office, once stood in the front yard. In the stair hall the chair rail is original, as is the triple-run walnut stair (with some balusters renewed). On this door survive original foliated H-hinges, an early feature not often found in Virginia. The dining room also retains its original chair rail and three-panel closet door. The remainder of the woodwork is a restoration. The three-panel door to the closet and the chair rail which encircles the room are both original. The parlor has a large, rectangular plan fireplace, with a small closet to the left. Much of the original woodwork was removed, either in the Federal remodeling or subsequently, during the house’s intermittent periods of neglect, but significant clues remained to guide the restoration of the structure. The front dormers were added early in the nineteenth century, while those on the rear are modern.
#SEVEN SPRINGS WINDOWS#
Three of the four gable-end windows have been enlarged, but the east window in the southern end, including the frame and four-over-four sash, is original. The first-floor nine-over-nine window sashes are modern replacements of Victorian two-over-two sashes, but the window frames are original. The house is three bays long, with doors in the southern bay of each façade and in the west bay of the north end. Architecturally, the house can be said with some certainty to have been built circa 1725-1740, however.
The destruction of most of the King William records on two separate occasions prevents the resolution of the problem. It has been argued that this was the house George Dabney the younger was living in when his father died, since the older man was known to have lived closer to the ferry. The construction of Seven Springs has traditionally been attributed to the Dabney patriarch, but the evidence is inconclusive. He bequeathed all his holdings to his two sons, George and William, which included numerous properties and thousands of acres. When Dabney died in 1729, he left a substantial estate in King William and Hanover counties. In 1722, the legislature authorized the establishment of a ferry on Dabney’s estate.
Dabney was a prominent figure in the early history of King William County, serving as a member of the County Court, as it’s first Sheriff, and as an original official of Delawaretown, now known as West Point. John’s Parish (then King and Queen County) in 1701. Raking courses of glazed headers accent the eaves.Ĭaptain George Dabney I, the possible builder of the house, received a land grant in St. The home is built of brick laid in Flemish bond with glazed headers above the beveled water table and English bond below it. Despite its small size and architectural informality, the house is comparable in quality to many of the more pretentious dwellings of the day. Built in a transitional period between Medieval and Georgian, it has a unique square plan with a central chimney, unlike any other in Virginia from this period.
It is situated on the Mehixen Swamp near the Pamunkey River in King William County, Virginia, northeast of Richmond. Seven Springs, built circa 1725, is a striking and unusual specimen of 18th century Tidewater domestic architecture.
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