Patrick Henry's Scotchtown
VA - Richmond, Virginia, USA
16120 Chiswell Ln, Beaverdam, VA 23015, USA
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MUSEUM
VISITOR INFORMATION
TICKET REQUIRED
Interior tours run March through December, Thursday to Saturday 10am-5pm (Thursdays only, June through August) and Sunday 11am-5pm. Admission is $15 general, $12 for seniors, AAA and military, and $10 for students.
There is a dedicated gravel parking lot with accessible accommodations. Members and children under 6 enter free.
SITE FEATURES
Restaurant
Surviving Structures
Peak visitation season unconfirmed. No reliable site-specific annual monthly attendance pattern was established.
April-May or October for a confirmed house tour and grounds visit in generally milder weather. Check the public booking calendar or arrange a private visit separately.
HISTORIC SITES NEARBY
Nearby Historic Sites
miles
Landmark
WHO WAS HERE
1
Patrick Henry
About Patrick Henry's Scotchtown
The Scotchtown property was given as a land grant to Charles Chiswell, a prominent planter and iron mine owner, in 1717. Chiswell built a small house on the property, probably in the 1720s. It was expanded to its present size around 1760. It was first given the name "Scotch Town" in a 1757 deed of sale. At this time the house also was used as a store that bought and sold local tobacco.
Preservation Virginia cares for the original eighteenth-century house, restored rooms, and historic architectural features. Reconstructed outbuildings, archaeology, gardens, and rural grounds interpret the plantation and its free and enslaved communities.
History happened here at Patrick Henry's Scotchtown
Patrick Henry purchased the house in 1771 and lived there with his wife, Sarah Shelton Henry, and their six children. This was his home during his most influential period, including his famous "Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death!" speech at St. John's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia. It was also his residence when he was elected Governor of Virginia in 1776. His wife Sarah, who suffered from mental illness, died at the site in 1775. He resided at Scotchtown until 1777. That year he married his second wife and in 1778 they relocated, after his election, to the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg.
The house was purchased by the Wilson Miles Cary family after their original home had been taken over as a small-pox rest camp. They briefly resided there until attempting to sell it in December 1781. The house and land were transferred to Benjamin Forsythe in Hanover County's 1787 tax records,
PEOPLE WHO LIVED HERE
Patrick Henry
PEOPLE WHO DIED HERE
PEOPLE AT REST HERE
Sarah Shelton Henry
EXTERNAL LINKS
preservationvirginia.org: https://preservationvirginia.org/historic-sites/patrick-henrys-scotchtown/
preservationvirginia.org: https://preservationvirginia.org/our-work/education/teacher-resources-field-trips/
Location and preservation note: Scotchtown is at Beaverdam, not Richmond. 1771 begins Henry’s residence; the operator restored the house to his period and identifies reproduction outbuildings and gardens. Interior visits require a tour ticket and follow seasonal hours.
Accessed 2026-09-30