Name:  Old Woodville

Date:  2018

Image Number:  Old Woodville, M57953-09909#photo43

Comments:  Woodville was built in 1796 by prominent Virginia planter John Coles, II, of nearby Enniscorthy.  Coles built this two-story, double-pile frame house for his son, Walter Coles (1772-1854).  An addition was made to the west side of this house in 1832.  The property was carved out of the southerly side of the original Enniscorthy tract.  According to photographer, Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1852), who worked for the Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South, four generations of Coles occupied the house from its completion until the Coles sold the Woodville property to Charles Shaw in the late 1800's.  Shaw changed the Woodville property's name to 'Mavesyn.'  The Coles, meanwhile, built a new home, giving it the same name as their former property, Woodville.  Later, the Coles family rebought the first Woodville property (then called Mavesyn), and, to distinguish the two Woodvilles from each other, they referred to the 1796 house as 'Old Woodville.'  Old Woodville is located at 6774 Green Mountain Road in Esmont, Virginia (the newer 'Woodville' home is located at 6634 Porters Rd. in Esmont).

In her 2002 oral history interview for the University of Virginia's Race and Place project, Lorraine Paige described Old Woodville as:  "The house on the corner up there belonged to the Coles family.   And when I grew up, it belonged to a Mrs. Lottie Coles, and her daughter, Charlotte Coles lived there.  Now we saw them quite often because they at times came down to the church to give out gifts or bibles and stuff to the students and all that.  And I understand that many years ago, before the black families had a school, the Coles family had a little 'brush harbor' school, as they called it, up there under the tree at that place."

The Old Woodville property was owned by the Van Clief family from 1992-2018, and in 2019, this property is listed in Albemarle GIS parcel assesment records as owned by OW VA LLC.  This 1796 Old Woodville home is described as being in good condition in this 2019 Albemarle County GIS assessment of the property.  Following are two photos of Old Woodville, dated ca. 2017:

Scottsville Museum wishes to thank Maxwell Johnson for his research and photographs on this Esmont community home!

References:
1)  2018 Photo of Old Woodville, M57953-09909#photo43;  Move, Inc., 2018; see: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/6774-Green-Mountain-Rd_Esmont_VA_22937_M57953-09909#photo43 .
2)  Coles, William B.. "The Coles Family of Virginia."  1989 reprint edition, Gateway Press, Inc., 1989, pp. 671-74.
3)  Johnston, Frances Benjamin. "Woodville, Esmont Vic., Albemarle County, Virginia."  Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South, Library of Congress. LC-DIG-csas-04342; see: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017890100/ .
4)  Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division; Reproduction No.: HABS VA,2-ESM.V2-(sheet 1 of 5).  see: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/hhh.va1464.sheet.00001a/ . 
5)  Lawrence, Sarah, and Lorraine Paige.  "Interview of Lorraine Paige by Sarah Lawrence of the Race and Place Project on February 7, 2002 and February 14, 2002. (Oral History)."  Race and Place, Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, 2002.
6)  Moore, John Hammond, and Albemarle County Historical Society (Va).   "Albemarle, Jefferson's County, 1727-1976."  Published for the Albemarle County Historical Society by the University Press of Virginia, 1976.
7)  Coles, William B.  "The Coles Family of Virginia."  (New York:  Gateway Press, Inc., 1931; pp. 671-674).

Copyright © 2019 by Scottsville Museum

Top Image Located On:  Move Inc., Old Woodville., M57953-09909#photo43 .

Bottom Two Images Located On:  http://gisweb.albemarle.org/gisweb/AdvancedSearch.aspx, Old Woodville, Parcel ID: 12000-00-00-016D0 .