Wheatland (Loretto, Virginia)
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Wheatland
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| Location | VA 638 between US 17 and the Rappahanock River, Loretto, Virginia |
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| Coordinates | 38°05′04″N 77°03′35″W / 38.08444°N 77.05972°WCoordinates: 38°05′04″N 77°03′35″W / 38.08444°N 77.05972°W |
| Area | 350 acres (140 ha) |
| Built | 1849-1851 |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| NRHP reference # | 89001918 |
| VLR # | 028-0044 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | December 19, 1990 |
| Designated VLR | September 20, 1988 |
Wheatland is a historic plantation home located near Loretto, Essex County, Virginia. It was built between 1849 and 1851, and is a two-story, five-bay, frame dwelling with a hipped roof in the Greek Revival style. It has a double-pile central hall plan, and features two-story porches on the primcipal facades. A simple one-story gable-roofed frame wing contains a kitchen. The property includes a contributing wharf (1916), smokehouse and kitchen.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The house was constructed by John Saunders, between 1849 and 1851. Saunders, who was a merchant as well as a planter, built the plantation wharf that is still in use. This wharf is one of the only surviving steamboat wharves left today, and is the only such wharf remaining on the Rappahannock River. During his ownership and that of his son Walton Saunders, the plantation wharf was a locus of river transportation and commerce for Essex County and nearby communities.
Although the original wharf was burned down in the year 1900, the structure was rebuilt in 1901 and is still being utilized today. From the middle of the nineteenth century until September 11, 1937—for almost a century—steamboats plied the waters between Fredericksburg, Tidewater Virginia, and Baltimore, and Saunders wharf at Wheatland was a regular stop for passengers and freight. Improvements in highway and railroad transportation finally put an end to this traffic that had enabled the plantation to survive intact during the Reconstruction Era.
The plantation itself was spared during the Civil War. Several Union gunboats passed by the house during the course of the war, but not until 1864 was it threatened. A Union gunboat commander "came up to the house and ordered Mr. Saunders to evacuate the premises because they intended to shell the house. Instead Mr. Saunders gathered together all of the family and servants and they sat defiantly on the front steps." According to family tradition, the commander declined to shell civilians but destroyed a granary instead.
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