1960’s drawing by B. R. Thorpe from Leah Gibbs

Home Site – Amherst County, Virginia

Verdant Vale was located near Waugh’s Ferry in Amherst County, Virginia.

Timeline of Ownership of Verdant Vale

  • Abt. 1778: Verdant Vale was the home of Elizabeth Horsley (1749-1821) and her husband Roderick McCulloch (1741-1826).  Elizabeth was the daughter of Mary Cabell and William Horsley. Roderick McCulloch had been a tutor for Col. William Cabell, Sr. at Union Hill and Elizabeth had been one of his scholars. They were married at Union Hill in 1768 and moved to Verdant Vale after the Revolution.
    • Elizabeth and Roderick McCulloch are buried in a graveyard on the site.
  • Abt. 1820: After the house burned about 1819 or 1820, the McCulloch’s moved in with their daughter, Isabella McCulloch Waugh (1784-1860), on the adjoining farm.
  • 1826: William H. McCulloch inherited Verdant Vale and sold it to his sister, Isabella in 1834.
  • 1967 – Purchased by Dr. Phillip Gibbs in 1967. Although the house is no longer standing, mantels, beams and bricks from the original house have been incorporated into two newer houses on the property.