December 2, 2019 / Joanne Yeck

Buckingham County Houses: Saratoga, Part I

Saratoga. Courtesy Historic Buckingham.

In 1938, Elizabeth McCraw surveyed Saratoga for the Virginia Historical Inventory.

Located 4.3 miles south of Sprouses Corner, she located the house off Route #15 on a private road. Believed to be built about 1805, owners included Dr. James T. Hubard, Col. Edmund Wilcox Hubard, Edmund W. Hubard, Jr., Mrs. Tellie E. Sutton, and A. F. Bullock, who was the owner in 1938.

Mrs. McCraw described the property as follows:

The approach to this house is very pleasing, as the house can be seen about .2 mile from the highway. The private road from the highway winds around the edge of the woods and fields. Along this road is Scotch Broom, especially beautiful in the spring. The trees about the house are also very noticeable. Two large holly trees, several yews, magnolias, hemlock, shade mulberry and many very large oaks. Small shrubs are here.

The round handsome columns with ornamental tops on the small front porch a rather unusual, and the decorated cornice of wood around the front part of the house shows beauty and completeness of architecture. A heavy four panel door with transom and side lights leads to the spacious hall. A broad two flight stairway leads to the second floor from near the rear of the hall. There are two large rooms with sliding doors between on each side of the hall. Each room is about twenty feet square, having an interior cornice of plaster about fourteen inches wide, the plain rolled type, but with an elaborate decoration in the center of the ceiling from which hangs a handsome Chandelier. The two rooms on the left side of the hall still have the original wall paper in splendid condition. And other walls are plain white plastering. There are eight white marble mantels in the house.

Coming next: Buckingham County Houses: Saratoga, Part II