Stratford Hall (Westmoreland County, Va.)

Stratford Hall was the home of four generations of the Lee family, which included two signers of the Declaration of Independence, and was the birthplace of General Robert E. Lee. The plantation currently encompasses nearly 2,000 acres and borders two miles of Potomac River shoreline. Thomas Lee built the historic Great House circa 1738 and began to build a family empire based on the export of tobacco, the production of which required a large labor force. The 1782 slave inventory recorded during the division of Philip Ludwell Lee's (son of Thomas) estate remains the best information available about the enslaved population at Stratford. This inventory lists 137 enslaved individuals at Stratford and two outlying farms, including names, ages, values, and in some instances for the males, occupations. After 1782 the Lee owners of Stratford suffered financial instability and the enslaved population dwindled as many individuals were sold or confiscated to satisfy debts.