The first carriage to pull into the circle drive in front of Frascati in 1823 was very likely bringing James Barbour and his wife, Lucy, to the just completed home of his brother, Phillip Barbour. Certainly the carriage would have slowed, the lathered horses catching their breath just as James and Lucy did as the columned portico of Frascati was graciously revealed. The fresh red brick and bright white columns elicit an “oh my” from Lucy and a “well done brother” from James. Beneath the portico, Phillip Barbour and his wife Frances stand proudly as he sweeps his hat off in welcome to his brother and his wife’s sister. “James and Dolly should be here shortly” he cries as the footmen help their guests from the from the sporty Phaeton.
Philip Barbour was currently Speaker of the House in Congress while his brother James was a former Virginia Governor and later Senator. James and Dolly, their nearby neighbors, were of course the Madisons at nearby Montpelier. Quite the house warming. Hard to imagine? Not at all! Frascati still stands just as it did that day 201 years ago when its builder, Thomas Jefferson’s mason John Perry declared her finished. Frascati is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Virginia Historic Landmark.
For aficionados of historic homes, Frascati has few equals and even fewer in such excellent condition and in such a superb location in Orange County, Virginia.
Frascati is proudly offered for sale with Wiley Real Estate in Charlottesville, Virginia, home to Thomas Jefferson’s University of Virginia and his home, Monticello.
For more information about Frascati, please contact John Ince, Wiley Real Estate, 434-981- 3011.
MLS 637878
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