Tappahannock Seminary on the Rappahannock River

The Tappahannock Seminary was started by Lucy Wellford Gray in 1818. It included over seven hundred girls and boys during its history. The school taught reading, writing, figuring, domestic arts, music, drawing, and manners, and was well-respected and highly patronized. It closed in 1860 with the death of Lucy Wellford Gray. Lucy Yates Wellford Gray (1781-1860) was the daughter of Dr. Robert Wellford, of Fredericksburg, Virginia. In 1808, she married Dr. Thomas Branch Willson Gray (1784-1818) and had four children, with only two surviving into adulthood. Soon after her husband's death, Mrs. Lucy Gray opened a seminary for girls (later included some male students) in her home on Prince Street in Tappahannock, Virginia. She also started a school in Petersburg, Virginia, in 1836. She was a woman of excellent education and high intellect and was active in Tappahannock's Presbyterian church.