Photo by H. P. Cook
MOUNT AIRY, RICHMOND COUNTY, VA.
LXXI
MOUNT AIRY, RICHMOND COUNTY, VIRGINIA
THE PLANTATION HOME OF COLONEL JOHN TAYLOE
The purchase for £500 of three thousand acres of productive land in Charles County, on the Potomac, gave a big boost to the fortunes of the Tayloe family of Virginia. This shrewd purchase was made by Colonel John Tayloe, the son of William Tayloe (or Taylor) who came from England in the seventeenth century. William Tayloe was a member of the House of Burgesses in 1710. His son John became a member of the Colonial Council in 1732, while his son John, who was born in 1721, also had the honor of serving in the Council under Lord Dunmore, as well as in the first Republican Council, during the administration of Patrick Henry. He married the sister of Governor George Plater of Maryland. Of his eight daughters one married Richard Lightfoot Lee, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, while another married Colonel William Augustine Washington, a nephew of George Washington, by whom he was educated.
Colonel John Tayloe, the father of three daughters, was the builder of Mount Airy, which was for many years the most superb mansion in Virginia, and was so different from all other mansions that it attracted many visitors, even in the days when transit was difficult. Its twenty-five spacious rooms afforded generous accommodation for the guests who were eager to accept the invitations of Colonel and Mrs. Tayloe. Among the entertainments provided for these guests by the thoughtful hosts were concerts by a band made up entirely of slaves who had been instructed by their master. On occasion this band was taken to the town house at Williamsburg, the capital of the State.
The letters of Washington show that the builder of Mount Airy was an ardent patriot, and his friend and associate. These two men were joint executors of the estate of one of the Lees. From his headquarters in the Craigie House at Cambridge the General wrote to Mount Airy a letter about the estate, asking Tayloe to become sole executor.
The varied interests of Colonel Tayloe were indicated by his remarkable will, which asked, among other things, that one part of his estate in Prince William County, Virginia, and Baltimore County, Maryland, be kept intact and worked for the making of pig iron. Not only did he own a number of other plantations, but he was a large shipowner, and reaped unusual profits from trade.