Cleydael, a two-story white frame house, is located adjacent to State Route 206 in King George County, Virginia. The house was erected as a summer residence by Dr. Richard H. Stuart in 1859. Cleydael has handsome proportions, a carefully balanced symmetry along the north-south axis, and a floor plan designed to promote cross ventilation that distinguishes it from most other rural houses. The house retains nearly all of the interior woodwork. The only changes to the original floor plan are two bathrooms and a lean-to kitchen added during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The exterior has had very few changes.

Sited on a grassy knoll where it can catch the summer breezes and sheltered by enormous locust, elm, and walnut trees, Cleydael served as the summer residence for King George County’s wealthiest resident, Dr. Richard H. Stuart. Stuart chose the site some eight miles away from his primary residence, Cedar Grove, on the Potomac River to escape the danger of malaria.

Cleydael, a large, breezy, comfortable summer house was built on a thirteen hundred acre tract in King George County, Virginia, by Dr. Richard H. Stuart in 1859. In December of 1845 he had purchased the parcel then known as Neck Quarter from Nathaniel Hooe.¹ According to local tradition Mrs. Stuart changed the name of the property from Neck Quarter to Cleydael. She was the granddaughter of Baron Stier who had owned the Chateau de Cleydael near Antwerp, Belgium.²

Stuart built his summer home at this site because he believed the location some eight miles inland from the Potomac River would be much healthier for his family during the hot, muggy Tidewater Virginia summers.³ Thus every summer, Stuart moved his family to Cleydael where he continued to see patients.⁴ To the rear of the house Dr. Stuart had an office and waiting room. Outside a lighted lamp guided people coming to the house for help or medical assistance at night.⁵

Throughout the Civil War Dr. Stuart and his family lived at Cleydael because they feared the Union forces would shell Cedar Grove.⁶ It was a concern shared by General Robert E. Lee whose two daughters stayed at Cleydael with their cousins the Stuarts after being forced to leave Arlington.⁷ Thus, on Sunday night, April 23, 1865, Dr. Stuart had just finished tea, with his family at Cleydael when men rode into the yard. Two men named Bryant and Cresman had brought two strangers with them. In response to Stuart’s query about their identities, David Herold replied, “We are Marylanders in want of accommodations for the night.” Aware of Lincoln’s assassination, Stuart was suspicious of the two strangers increased Stuart’s concern for the safety of his family inside the house. He refused Booth’s request for accommodations as well as refusing to give medical assistance on the grounds that he was a physician not a surgeon. Moreover he was convinced the limp and crutch were a ruse. Their insistence that a Dr. Mudd in Maryland had recommended him did not allay Stuart’s growing uneasiness. Finally Stuart did agree to feed the two strangers. When Booth, after entering the house for supper, attempted to confide in Stuart, the doctor refused to listen. When he questioned the men who had brought Booth and Herold to Cleydael, Stuart was told they had come out of the marshes asking for him. As soon as Booth and Herold had finished their meal, they were ordered off the property and given directions to the cabin of a black man who rented wagons. Perhaps he could take them to Port Conway.

Following the Civil War, Dr. Stuart continued to spend his summers at Cleydael. When he died in May, 1889, he left the property to his daughter Ada Stuart Robb and her hiers.⁸ In April , 1914, William W. Randolph inherited Cleydael from his mother Ada Stuart Robb.⁹ In August, 1918, William Randolph deeded the property to Graham D. Richardson and James 0. Heflin.¹⁰ In February, 1919, Heflin sold his portion to Graham D. Richardson.¹¹ In 1934 Stanley Kimmel visited Cleydael while researching The Mad Booths of Maryland.¹² He noted the lean-to kitchen had been
added since the time of Dr. Stuart. After the death of Graham Richardson i n October, 1956, his wife owned the property until 1976. Farmer, Turpin, and Mahon of Fredericksburg purchased it then.¹³ The Cleydael Limited Partnership purchased Cleydael in 1985. For many years the house has been a rental property.

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1. King George County Deed Book 16, p. 450, recorded January 22, 1846. ↩︎
2. Statement Frank Martin, Limited Partner in Cleydael Limited Partnership, March 16, 1986 ↩︎
3. King George County Will Book, p. 416, Item 9. “I give and devise to my daughter Ada, her Heirs and assign all land I bought from the estate of the late Nathaniel Hooe, then called ‘Neck Quarter’ now called Cleydael, and containing some thirteen hundred acres more or less, together with the buildings there on; I built a very good house for summer use as it is more hearty than ‘Cedar Grove.'” ↩︎
4. Kimmel Papers. ↩︎
5. ibid. ↩︎
6. ibid. ↩︎
7. ibid. ↩︎
8. King George County Will Book 5, p. 408. item 9 ↩︎
9. King George County Will Book 5, p. 141 ↩︎
10. King George County Deed Book 37, pp. 157-158. ↩︎
11. Kimmel Papers ↩︎
12. King George County Deed Book 37, p. 248 ↩︎
13. Statement of Frank Martin, March 16, 1986. ↩︎