Hickory Hill (Ashland, Virginia)
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Hickory Hill
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| Location | E of Ashland off VA 646, Ashland, Virginia |
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| Coordinates | 37°46′28″N 77°24′47″W / 37.77444°N 77.41306°WCoordinates: 37°46′28″N 77°24′47″W / 37.77444°N 77.41306°W |
| Area | 640 acres (260 ha) |
| Built | 1820 |
| NRHP reference # | 74002121 |
| VLR # | 042-0100 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | November 21, 1974 |
| Designated VLR | September 17, 1974 |
Hickory Hill is an estate in Hanover County, Virginia. The 3,300 acre former plantation is located approximately 20 miles (32 km) north of the independent city of Richmond and 5 miles (8.0 km) east of the incorporated town of Ashland.
The Hickory Hill property was long an appendage to Shirley Plantation in Charles City County, much of it having come into possession of the Carter family by a deed dated March 2, 1734. The Carters were among the First Families of Virginia. Robert "King" Carter (1663–1732) served as an acting royal governor of Virginia and was one of its wealthiest landowners in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
Robert Carter the younger gave 500 acres of land known as Hickory Hill to his daughter Ann Butler Carter and her betrothed on the occasion of her wedding in December 1819 to William Fanning Wickham. William Fanning Wickham, son of the famous defender of Aaron Burr, John Wickham esq., though a Richmond lawyer, soon adopted the life of a Planter, raising wheat as his cash crop and he and Ann eventually grew Hickory Hill to encompass 3300 acres. Once Hickory Hill became their modest home, the frame dwelling over an English basement grew with the plantation, eventually becoming a brick, seventy five hundred square foot Greek Revival mansion. Her sister, Anne Hill (née Carter) Lee, was the mother of Robert E. Lee. The Lee family visited often, before during and after the War Between the States. General Lee's daughter Agnes was proposed to by her childhood sweetheart Orton Williams in Hickory Hill's large parlor. She declined, never disclosing her reasons, but it is thought that the war had so hardened the sweet boy she had known, that he was gone and an angry, hard man had taken his place. Orton was later captured and hung the following morning as a spy. His last letter was written to Agnes Lee in which he proclaimed his innocence. General R.E. Lee wrote that this cruel deed was done to Orton in vindictiveness, simply to harm Lee and his family.
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