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History
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Wellemeyer; and fax hunters and horses from the Thornton Hill Hounds.
As an added treat, local Rappahannock restaurants will be providing the refreshments.
Rappahannock's Montpelier
An elegant classical house with a commanding view of the Blue Ridge Mountains from its 339 acres of green pastures and woods, Montpelier is 110 feet in length but only one room wide. The house is built of stone and brick covered with stucco. It was designed with windows on the east and west sides to allow for cross ventilation of cool mountain breezes during hot Virginia summers. The southeast facade which overlooks broad pastures has a striking two-story portico stretching the entire length of the house. The front (west) entrance overlooks the mountains, including the much-photographed Old Rag.
Montpelier (earlier known as “Hermitage on the Ridge”) was built for Colonel William Thornton, son of Francis Thornton for whom FT Valley, the Thornton River, Thornton Gap, and Thornton Hill are named. The Thorntons of Fredericksburg were one of the first families to settle in the “frontier” country of Rappahannock County, then part of Orange and later Culpeper County. Records show that Col. Thornton brought a caravan of oxcarts and horses to carry carpenters, blacksmiths, stone masons and slaves who then proceeded to build homes for the three children—William, John, and Mary.
CoL Thornton occupied Montpelier until his death in 1818. It then passed through a succession of owners over the years, includ
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