Chatham Manor of Fredericksburg Virginia: The Haunting of the Lady in White

Chatham Manor is part of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park and is open 9:00 am to 4:30 pm for the small admission price of $3. Chatham Manor is located at 120 Chatham Lane Fredericksburg, Virginia 22405. Five of the manor's ten rooms are fully restored and open to the public. The grounds, gardens, and surrounding outer buildings are open to visitors as well. Chatham has a long history, only a few other buildings in America have seen so many famous visitors and historical events. One notable guest during the time of Fitzhugh's ownership of Chatham was General George Washington's. Indeed Washington's diaries confirm that he was often a guest at Chatham. There is also evidence that James Monroe and Thomas Jefferson. Chatham was originally Chatham was built in 1771 by William Fitzhugh. The house was named after William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham and a school friend of William Fitzhugh. The mansion was part of a large and successful 1,280 acre plantation supported by more than 100 slaves. Along with the main building there was a barn, stables, a dairy, an ice house, and a fishery down stream. There was also a racetrack, mill, and orchard.

Despite the apparent success of the plantation William Fitzhugh still managed to lose money. He was well known as an entertainer and people would come from all around to stay with him. He through feasts often with only the best of the time including caviar from sturgeons caught in the Rappannock river. He never speared any expense when it came to his guests. William Fitzhugh was forced to leave Chatham in 1796. He sold it for $20,000 to Major Churchill Jones 10 years latter in 1806 . The property stayed in Jones's family for 66 more years. During the civil war Chatham served as the Union headquarters and a military hospital during the Battle of Fredericksburg. According to the records 130 Union soldiers died at Chatham. They were originally buried on the grounds but where latter moved to Fredericksburg National Cemetery. Three granite stones graves mark the place where soldiers found latter are buried. Chatham had fifteen different owners in all over the years. Chatham last owner was an industrialist named John Lee Pratt. In his will Mr Pratt generously left Chatham to the National Park Service. The National Park Service took possession of Chatham in 1975.

The Ghost of Chatham was, in life, one of William Fitzhugh's many guests. Her name has been lost in time. A young girl from England, she was sent to Chatham by her father, a friend of Fitzhugh. In England the girl had fallen in love with a poor English dry-salter. Her father though that the young man was too far below his daughters social station to be married to her. She was promptly sent to America in the hopes of separating them forever. Unknown to her father the young man followed his love to America. He found the girl and they met in secret to make plans for their elopement. Unfortunately their plans were doomed from the start. A servant over heard their plans and informed another guest at Chatham. The servant told General George Washington, who decided to stop them. On the night of their elopement General Washington arrested the young dry-salter. When the girl climbed out of her window she did not find her love, she found General Washington waiting for her. The fate of her lover is unknown, but what is known is the girl was returned to England. Soon she was married to someone deemed more suitable. She never forgot her true love though and vowed to return to Chatham on the anniversary of her death.

Over the years many different visitors and residents of Chatham have seen the girl, now know as the Lady in White. She appears as a spectral figure and glows an un-earthy white wearing a long colonial style dress. Here first appearance was on the day she died in England, June 21st, 1790. Once every seven years between 12 pm and 12 am the lady in white walks the path, known as the ghost walk, which leads down to the river where her lover was supposed to meet her. In 2007 a paranormal investigation was held on June 21st during the time the lady was supposed to take her famous walk. The investigators failed to see the lady or gather nay evidence that she was there. Some think that she did show up and the investigators just failed to see her. The more romantic at heart suppose that she may have finally found her lover and has moved on. Still the legend of the lady in white draws tourists, lovers of the paranormal, and romantics back again and again to Chatham manor.