Meade, David (American garden designer, 1744-1829)

David Meade was born in Virginia in 1744 to a wealthy planter of the same name. He went abroad for schooling at Harrow in England. At age seventeen he returned to Virginia to become a young gentleman planter. He married Sarah Waters of Williamsburg in 1768. The following year he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses. Meade was an ardent supporter of the American Revolution. He suffered, however, significant financial losses in the war. This eventually prompted him to send his son, David Meade III, to look for land in Kentucky. The Meade family purchased 300 acres in what is now Jessamine County and moved there in 1796. There Meade built his famous home, La Chaumiere du Prairie translated as the thatched cottage of the meadow. Meade's home was known for its imported furnishings from Europe, New York, and New Orleans, and for its noted guests.