250th Anniversary Celebration Facts: Greyledge Historic Mansion has had many facets
Greyledge Mansion is nestled net to the mountains north of Buchanan 
Sen. Stuart B. Carter 
THE GREYLEDGE MANSION
The romantic tragedy is a tale as old as time itself. No it is not Romeo and Juliet, Napoleon and Josephine or Pocahontas and Captain John Smith. The mansion house known today as “Greyledge” is more reminiscent of Wuthering Heights where the main character is tortured by the ghost of his deceased wife. Our story is much shorter but no less tragic. Perhaps writing from the male perspective engages my sympathy for the young man; female readers may understandably have a different perspective. The psychology that occurs behind the characters may take a bit of imagination and conjecture.
Our story begins with little Ann Skillern Sisson. She was the daughter of Mary Cartmill and James Sisson who were married in 1807 but soon died leaving Ann an orphan at a young age. Her parents had founded the town of Sissonville, now in West Virginia. She was brought up in the home of her maternal grandfather, Henry Cartmill Sr. He is first seen in Botetourt records in 1761 at “Cartmill’s Gap”, and again in 1770 he was one of 20 farmers producing hemp, which was the leading money crop in this time period.
Although not named Cartmill’s Gap until later, it was the site of a vicious Indian raid on settlers residing on Purgatory Mountain. Before the Cartmills arrival in Botetourt, it was known as Bowen’s Gap. Sixty Shawnee warriors staged a vicious attack on the James River settlements in this area in 1761. It was apparently the same year, Henry Cartmill first purchased land in this area. Several men and boys were scalped and their wives and children were taken captive. The daring stories of their survival, ransom, barter, escape and assimilation are well chronicled. A fascinating account of the settlers ordeal is told in vivid detail in ‘A Seedbed of the Republic’ by Robert Douthat Stoner. Most of the survivors of this attack on the river were sheltered at the fort of Audley Paul, on the Rockbridge Botetourt county line where a historic marker stands today in honor of the fort. Many native American tribes wandered the Appalachian mountains in hunting parties, but only the Shawnee struck fear in the hearts of our pioneer ancestors, as seen in our last story in The Botetourt Bee, when they attacked Stonelea three years later in 1764.
In August of 1776, Henry Sr. is shown as one of several local prominent pioneer Botetourt farmers that supplied horses when one company of Botetourt militia were to be formed for the protection of citizens on the Holston River in far Southwest Virginia against the Cherokee, a clash that was averted.
Henry had several sons including Henry Jr., James, Thomas, John and a daughter Elizabeth, none of whom ever married. Henry Sr. provided for his granddaughter Ann, an equal portion of his estate. Among his eight children he spoke of Ann affectionately and treated her as if she were his own child. The Cartmill uncles were well-to-do and no doubt, treated the orphaned Ann as one of their own as well, particularly when the three wealthy brothers had no heirs whatsoever, Ann became the recipient of these estates and thus a very wealthy young woman. The Cartmill brothers owned land in many areas of Virginia, among them was this vast tract of Purgatory Mountain, then named Cartmill’s Gap. This land stood on the old Valley Road, on the east side of the mountain near Buchanan. Of all the places that she could have selected to have her home built, it seems a surprising location for such an estate. Naturally, her uncles, Thomas and John Cartmill built for their only progeny, a comfortable mansion on the property which was near wilderness at that time; and even today while near Interstate 81 is located nearby, it lies in one of the most secluded areas of Botetourt. Today, we may wonder why a young woman would be attracted to a place such as this, and it is here where we are given to imagination. An orphan raised with adults, aging aunts and uncles, wealthy and aloof, she seems to relish the life of a recluse. The picture is painted of a young woman who wanted to live life on a remote mountain estate far from a bustling city, but still in a grand and gracious style.
Recently, a map researched and made by gifted Botetourt native, the late Charles R. Burton and produced for the Roanoke Historical Society has surfaced. It shows incredible details of the county’s pioneer days from 1770-1820. Everything on this map before 1820 is identified and “Grayledge” appears there. It also shows the Indian attack near there and the town of Pattonsburg and Buchanan. Ann Sisson, was not born until 1825, but her family completed their country vacation home around 1820, five years before her birth. This Gothic estate consists of more than thirty rooms, with walls seventeen inches thick. The enormous rooms are eighteen feet by nineteen feet with ceilings twelve feet high on the first floor and thirteen feet on the second floor. This shows that no expense was spared to make the home as comfortable and fashionable as any home in Virginia. Bricks were made on the property, likely of slave labor. For an estate of this size and no family members nearby, Ann could have not have survived without them, a sad commentary. There are rare hanging stairways and architectural details within these walls. This is an indication of the gracious life they lived and visitors must have been impressed at the genteel comfort provided. The home was built with the added comfort of a full basement, which was unheard of in those days and every room boasts a fireplace. Iron rings were embedded into the basement bricks for the securing of slaves who could not be trusted not to run away. These rings supposedly are still there today, reminding us of the cruelties and customs that were an accepted way of life among the wealthy in the antebellum south.
Ann was content living in her remote paradise until approximately the age of 36, when fate would come knocking. She had a wealthy neighbor by the name of William Weaver, an ambitious prosperous mine owner who owned iron mines in neighboring Rockbridge County and was taking advantage of the new industry taking this area by storm. One of his prospective mining interests adjoined Ann’s land on Purgatory; hers in Botetourt, his in Rockbridge. Soon after purchasing his property, Mr. Weaver paid a visit to Ann and advised her that her holdings held a vast deposit of iron. He stated that they could develop the mine, extend their interests and explained this would be mutually beneficial to both parties. Ann loved her mountain retreat and would not consent to destroying this beauty, and likely was in no need of the financial rewards she could expect to gain. Mr. Weaver was frustrated but undeterred. He returned to Lexington and began to devise a plan, or scheme one might say. We are thankful to Ann Sisson today for the preservation of Purgatory Mountain, still today a nature reserve as it was then rather than a deep mining pit.
In those days, the summons from a wealthy relative to a young family member could mean the difference in living a life of wealth and privilege, or backbreaking manual labor. A young protege could be enticed or manipulated with the lure of following the money trail; not always to their best advantage. As it happened, Mr. Weaver, had a young nephew graduating college in Philadelphia; a young, dashing Mr. Charles Gorgas. Weaver brought the young man to Lexington ostensibly to help pursue his many business interests in the area. Within weeks, Weaver and Charles visited Ann and he encouraged a courtship, no doubt to solidify a partnership formed not on love, but on a professional contract. It would have been obvious to Ann that the boy Charles was not in love, but Weaver was persistent in using him as a pawn. Within a year of his arrival, the 22 year old young man found himself wed to a 36 year old spinster, long past her prime for the Victorian age. The prospect of young Charles outliving his much older bride was the premise of this marriage and that survivor would inherit both sides of the iron-rich mountain. No doubt, Weaver was proud of his negotiating skills but fate is not always guided by ambition. Young Charles was miserable living at Greyledge and after wandering the mountains and visiting nearby Pattonsburg (Buchanan), he found little adventure to soothe the restless heart of youth, alone in a strange land with a wife he seemingly detested. It was rumored he did not want to enter the home, and spent much time outdoors exploring mountain wilderness. Despite the looming acreage, the estate was not prime farmland and left him with little to occupy his time. It has been said that he was seeking to escape military conscription in the north and this is why he may have found the offer attractive. Consequently, Charles was accustomed to the college life of young men in busy Philadelphia, one of the largest cities in the U.S. at that time. The culture shock of moving to Pattonsburg, Virginia, wed to an unattractive wife, 12 years his senior, living in a virtual castle of emotional silence must have led to severe depression. The lack of social life he had known only months earlier drove Charles to drink excessively. Charles became reckless and drank with abandonment to escape the maddening hell he had been sentenced to. He would have had little in common among the settlers in the area. His uncle’s frequent visits berated him for his unbecoming conduct, but that only forced him further into despair. Within, a year of the marriage, Charles was reportedly outside and drinking heavily on a cold, blustery Autumn day and failed to come inside that night. His lifeless body was found the next morning, the official cause of death as pneumonia. He was 23 years old and was shipped back to Philadelphia to be buried in the family plot at Ivy Hill Cemetery. Mr. Weaver must have been devastated; one cannot account for the personal nature of his indifference to the happiness of his nephew but from a monetary perspective and according to Virginia state law, he had lost both sides of the mountain to Ann Sisson Gorgas as she became sole owner of both properties. Greed and the promise of security and wealth- a story as old as time itself, tells the story of this loveless marriage. As the proverb has often been quoted: “A fool and his money are soon departed”.
As time passed, six years later, a certain Captain Hiram Hansbrough came knocking on the front door of the mansion telling a servant, “I am looking for the widow Gorgas and I have come “a’courting”. Our lady Ann at the age of 43 was probably looking more for security the second time around but again fell for the charms of a younger man; he was 29. She reportedly told her servant to have the Captain “alight at once”, an apparent expression equivalent to ‘come hither’. They were married within weeks. The marriage proved to be a long one and Ann and the Captain lived at the estate until she died at the age of 70. Ann had no children by either marriage and as of this writing, we have not discovered a burial site for her.
Hiram then married Elizabeth Utz and they are shown as living at historic Belle Grove plantation in Roanoke County after this. The Col. and his second wife are buried in the East Hill Cemetery in Salem. In the settlement of the estate, a Mr. J. L. Garland acquired the Greyledge property, believed to be some distant relative of Captain Hansbrough. In 1894, another mining engineer from Cleveland, Ohio, Edmund Pechin bought it and immediately conveyed ownership to his daughter, Bertha Shelley Pechin. She was married to Sydney Jameson. She remodeled the structure, adding a wing and two story front porch, which transformed the original Federal style home into a Greek-revival. She added many modern amenities including the spacious lake in front, familiar to residents today, although the home is completely secluded. Bertha lived there for many years until her death in 1959. A surprising fact is that it was not until her ownership that the property became known as “Greyledge.”
After her death, the property continued the tradition of female ownership, when the niece of Mrs. Jameson, Mary Shelley Sheridan Carter acquired the property. Mary was the wife of well-known and respected Senator Stuart Carter. Like the other ladies, she loved and respected the historic mansion for many years before the property was sold out of that family in 2001. It was only in 2019, that the last of the rare and impressive Carter artifacts were sold.
Senator Stuart B. Carter deserves our gratitude for preserving these wonderful stories of Greyledge. It is an inspiration to all of us who love preservation. If not for him, the estate may have never been known to history. He is a study in political steadfastness and morality, rarely seen in politicians today. His story is understated in both Botetourt and Virginia history and he deserves to be recognized as one of the county’s leading citizens and politicians.
Senator Stuart B. Carter was an attorney and Democratic party Delegate, first in the General Assembly, and then later ran for Virginia Senate and won that election as well. His cousin in the Assembly, H. Stuart Carter sponsored a bill along with powerful U.S. Senator from Virginia, Harry Byrd. This bill would promote the continued segregation of the Virginia public school system. The “Byrd faction” were vocal and popular, particularly in southside and southwest Virginia where segregated schools was a hot topic and integration was strongly opposed. This faction had gained popularity by defying the U.S. Supreme Court ruling handed down by the Brown vs. the Virginia Board of Education decision, that ordered all public schools be integrated. The Byrd faction became radicalized in their political position by advocating that all schools in Virginia be closed until they could be assured that white students could be funded tuition grants at “Segregationist Academies”. At this time, the state was one of the lowest in the nation for high-school completion with white males exiting school in the ninth grade, and black males leaving formal education after the eighth grade. Voting on the resolution was hotly debated. The night before the vote, more than 5,000 Virginia residents opposing segregation marched on Richmond after Virginia Governor Lindsay Almond Jr. reversed his opinion on school closings and sided with the Supreme court decision, wisely realizing he had no choice. Every vote was needed in the Assembly. Our Sen. Stuart B. Carter of Botetourt County, and the Greyledge mansion, was recovering from serious abdominal surgery at home and not expected to make the vote in Richmond, therefore giving the one vote needed to the Byrd contingent and allowing Virginia schools to be closed. The next morning, the Assembly was shocked when Sen. Carter was wheeled in by his supporters. He cast the deciding vote to end segregation once and for all in Virginia. This important and noble decision is another reason to designate Greyledge as a dedicated Botetourt historical site. Senator Carter died in 1983 and is interred with his wife, Mary Sheridan Carter at Fairview Cemetery in Buchanan.
It seems the age and size of a home dictates the long and historical significance of the structure and Greyledge is no exception. The legacy of a surviving rare beauty of this quality, is a hidden treasure among Botetourt mountains. Greyledge was finally placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. Botetourt County would do well to follow suit and recognize these sites.
–Greg Rieley, Special to The Botetourt Bee
Sources:
A Seedbed of The Republic by Robert Douthat Stoner
Rena Worthen, Fincastle Library Genealogist, Jerry Gill photo of Sen. Stuart Carter
The Carter legacy is well documented at Wikipedia
