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History buffs, take note: A historic and enormous estate in Virginia is now for sale for the very first time.
The plantation known as Camden has been in the family of John Pratt since 1785, when he purchased 661 acres in Northeast Virginia. Located in Caroline County (less than two hours south of Washington, DC), the plantation stretches over 1,383 acres and is designated as a National Historic Landmark.
The current Pratt descendent who owns the estate has decided to downsize and put the property on the market for $8.95 million.
“They’re moving on,” says Laura Peery of The Steele Group Sotheby’s International Realty, who is co-listing the property with Darnley Adamson.
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Camden comprises 1,300-plus acres with fields of soybean, corn, and wheat; a six-bedroom main house; and a three-bedroom guesthouse.
The acreage contains wetlands and creek frontage that provide “excellent hunting and fishing for deer, turkey, ducks, geese, doves, bass, and bream,” according to the listing.
The property also comes with three conservation easements that prevent a developer from throwing up 200 townhouses on the property.
“You can farm it. You can raise timber on it. It can be used for recreation,” Adamson says. “But you cannot develop it. You can’t buy it and put a golf course on it.”
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Besides acreage as far as the eye can see, the property also comes with a priceless oral history passed down from generation to generation.
“There are these fabulous stories,” Peery says. Like when former owner William Carter Pratt’s 16-year-old bride stamped her foot and refused to live in a traditional Revolutionary-era home. So Pratt hired architect Norris Starkweather to design what is now one of the nation’s best examples of an Italianate country house.
Completed in 1859, the country house was one of the first in the nation to have central heating and cooling, gas lights, and running water.
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Camden’s two-story main house has a wood exterior made to look like stone, a semicircular porch overlooking the river, seven bedrooms, two baths, and two half-baths.
There’s also the story about how Union gunboats in the Civil War shot a cannon at the house and blew off its tower. The lady of the house had just bent over to put her infant to sleep when bullets whizzed over her head.
“The Union soldiers didn’t want the Confederates to have observation posts,” Perry says.
Many of the original finishes and furnishings still adorn the 6,966-square-foot home, including the silk brocade curtains in the living room and parlor. The finish millwork was crafted in Baltimore and shipped by steamboat to the estate, which claims two miles of Rappahannock River frontage.
For a DC denizen with deep pockets, Camden might be the ultimate weekend getaway.
The post Huge and Historic Camden Plantation in Virginia on Market for First Time appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.
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