Buckingham Houses: Rose Hill

 Rose Hill, circa late 1940s

Photo by Kenneth Madison McDonald, Courtesy Rosemary Holdredge

According to a family history written by Alberta Anderson Caldwell:

Sometime in the late Fall of 1862 or early Spring of 1863 Richard Malone and his wife Mary Ann Peterson Malone sold their property on Church Hill in Richmond, Virginia and moved to Buckingham County about five miles west of the Courthouse where they bought a thousand acres and named it “Rose Hill.”

In addition to farming, Richard Malone established a school on his property. It began as a one-room, log structure to serve the children in the neighborhood. Click here for more about the history of the Malone School.

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In the early 20th century, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hutson Anderson ran a store and a post office at Rose Hill. Originally, the building sat about twenty-five yards in front of the main house. According to records kept for U.S. Postmasters, Charles H. Anderson served as Postmaster at Malone from June 7, 1901 – January 31, 1906, perhaps longer. When the mail delivery for the neighborhood moved to Andersonville and the Malone Post Office closed in 1906, the structure was moved to the north side of the house next to the original kitchen which is now used as a stripping house.

Today, Frank B. Caldwell, III, and his son, Frank B. Caldwell, IV, own 250 acres of the original 1000-acre farm at Rose Hill, marking six generations of continuous ownership in the family. During 2005-2007, the elder Frank, who grew up on the farm, renovated the original house.