Colleton- Wirt Robinson Diaries

Home Site- Nelson County, Virginia

On April 23, 1763, Dr. William Cabell deeded 1,785 acres of land known as the “Cabell’s Great low grounds” to his son, William Cabell, Sr.. William Cabell, Sr. built his first home, Colleton, on the present day Union Hill home site. He was living in that home by 1769. While living here, he built a second home, Union Hill, on the same site and moved into that home in 1778. In 1783, the Colleton home was moved about 2000 feet to the lot down river and became a separate plantation for William Cabell, Jr. and his wife, Anne Nancy Carrington. The house, which was located between Union Hill and Rock Cliff, was dismantled in the 1960’s.

Architecture

The original small house was incorporated into a larger home. According to a 1937 WPA report, the enlarged house consisted of eight rooms with carved mantles and wide chair boards. There was an elaborately carved archway between the dining room and the hall.

The WPA report also states that in 1910, a two-story addition consisting of five rooms on each floor was added to the back of the house. This addition was plain and had no woodwork.

Timeline of Colleton Ownership

  • Abt. 1769 – William Cabell, Sr.
    • As early as 1769, a tutor was teaching his son, Col. William Cabell, Jr. (1759-1822) in this home.
  • In 1781 Col. William Cabell, Jr. was living here with his wife, Anne Carrington, and in 1783 he moved the house in the Union Hill yard to the Colleton estate which had previously been given to him by his father.
  • William Cabell, Jr. remained at Colleton until after his father’s passing in 1798. He moved to Union Hill in 1803.
  • Upon the death of William Cabell in 1822, Jr. the Colleton plantation (1263 acres) was left to his son, Patrick Henry Cabell.
  • Patrick Henry Cabell died 2 years later and Mayo Cabell bought the property for $9600.
  • In 1859, Mayo gave the property to his son Joseph Carrington Cabell, Jr.
  • After Joseph Carrington Cabell, Jr.’s death in 1863, his younger brother, Robert Stuart Cabell (1842-1929) and his wife Alice Durell Boyd of Blue Rock (1845-1869), moved to Colleton in 1865. Alice and their three young children died before 1870 and are buried at Union Hill.
  • Evelyn Carter Byrd Cabell (1844-1910) purchased Colleton with her husband, William Russell Robinson (1841-?) in 1885. Russell Robinson “with characteristic if deplorable 1885 efficiency tore out all the beautiful paneling at Colleton and he substituted for the fine old wood mantles, new ones in either marble or soapstone. He also put in a modern steam heating system which proved to be a failure.” Evelyn (Eva) was the daughter of Clifford, granddaughter of Frederick and great granddaughter of John. The Robinson’s had two children, Wirt and Clifford Cabell Robinson. 
  • Clifford Cabell Robinson inherited Colleton in 1910 and upon his death in 1934, his second wife, Emma Simpson Robinson, inherited the house. Both Emma and C. Cabell Robinson are buried at Soldier’s Joy. 

Additional Photos

Photos from Wirt Robinson Diaries, West Point Special Collections