When Pittsylvania County was trimmed to its present boundaries in 1777 and its court moved from Callands to Chatham, the General Assembly ordered that court be temporarily held at Richard Farthing's home, assumed to be the log-bodied rear room of Mansfield. It sat near Hickey's Road (modern-day Hurt Street/Chalk Level Road), the first major east-west thoroughfare through this frontier district, and was probably typical of the region's simple colonial-era homes.
After the Civil War, Mansfield was the home of Judge Doddridge Coles, of Ex Parte Virginia fame, until he built a larger home on Main Street.
Thought to be Chatham's oldest building, it is currently a private faculty residence on the campus of Chatham Hall.
For further information, see:
Fitzgerald: Pittsylvania: Homes and People of the Past
This webpage is sponsored by Mitchells Publications and the Sims-Mitchell House, Chatham, Virginia.
Copyright © 2000–2006 Patricia B. Mitchell.