Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory - Virginia


Virginia

Lynnhaven House

Lynnhaven House, 4405 Wishart Road, Virginia Beach, Princess Anne County, VA (36.873996, -76.126905)


Felling Dates: Winter 1722/3, Summer 1724, and Winter 1724/5


Cellar ceiling joists 1724(41C, 36C2, 30C), 1723(34½C), 1722(58C); Ground floor ceiling joist 1721(+2-3C NM); Rafters 1724(C2), 1723(+1C NM), 1722, 1721(+2-3C NM),1709, 1677. Site Master 1577-1724 LVNx1 (pine) (t = 8.6 ATHx1; 6.8 WVVAP; 5.0 VA2008X; 4.5 VA021); 1535-1724 LVNx2 (oak) (t = 7.5 VA2008X; 7.1 VA021; 6.9 KELx1; 5.6 ATHx2).


The Lynnhaven House is one of a significant group of small brick dwellings that were built in Princess Anne County in what is now present-day Virginia Beach, Virginia. This assemblage of dwellings—including the Thoroughgood, Keeling, and Weblon houses—have traditionally been dated to the seventeenth century, but scholarship over the past several decades has shown them to be part of improved gentry housing in the lower Chesapeake that emerged in the 1710s, ‘20s and ‘30s. The Thoroughood House (documentary date of 1720) and Keeling House (dendro date of 1734/5), were the subjects of previous studies in 2004 and 2005 respectively. The Lynnhaven House is a brick-built in English bond with projecting gable-end chimnneys. It is of one-and-a-half storeys with two rooms on each floor, as well as a cellar below. The roof framing is of pine, as are the main ceiling joists, whilst the cellar ceiling joists are all white oak. The oak joists were previously sampled by Dr Jack Heikkenen in the early 1980s who dated them to the winter of 1724/5. The pine was not sampled at this time. During the current study additional oak samples were taken as well as sampling the pine in the roof. Both the oak and the pine produced precise felling dates ranging from winter 1722/3 to winter 1724/5, confirming the earlier work of Heikkenen.


Miles, D H, and Worthington, M J, 2007 “The Tree-Ring Dating of the Lynnhaven House, Virginia Beach, Virginia”, ODL unpubl rep 2006/06


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Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory

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Michael Worthington
Jane Seiter, Ph.D

25 E. Montgomery St.
Baltimore, MD 21230

410-929-1520

michael@dendrochronology.com