Virginia

The Overseers House, James Monroe’s Highland, Charlottesville, Virginia(37.982369, -78.456459)

Primary Building Felling Dates: Summer 1821

Individual sample mhva1 (oak) 1708-1820 (t = 7.54 anders, 7.53 chms6, 6.70 jgc4).

The Overseer’s House is located in the courtyard near the main house at James Monroe’s Highland. It is a small, single-story, framed building with a room in the attic.

Dendrochronological analysis has shown that north wall sill plate from the primary structure was felled in the summer of 1821, suggesting that the building was constructed at that time or shortly thereafter. Extensive smoke blackening found on the ceiling joists and the underside of the floorboards possibly indicates that the building was used as a kitchen or a smokehouse at some point in its history.

Worthington, M J and Seiter, J I 2017 “The Tree-Ring Dating of The Overseers House, James Monroe’s Highland, Charlottesville, Virginia”, unpublished Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory archive report 2017/15

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