Historic Outbuildings
Historic Kitchen
Stratford’s original 1738 kitchen/laundry still stands to the south east of the Great House. It is interpreted to showcase the Lee family era and is still in use for cooking demonstrations and educational programs.
We focus on two historic chefs in this historic space; Richard Mynatt and Caesar. These chefs were historically referred to as cooks, but their skills would deserve the label chef today.
To learn more about the kitchen and the chefs who cooked here in the 18th century, please visit our YouTube channel.
The Workshop
Records dating from 1801 suggest that skilled men, who were either enslaved people or indentured servants, as well as hired craftsmen, would have labored here. They made or repaired furniture or other necessary wood items including the paneling and carved woodwork that you can see in the Great House.
Colonial tradesman and historical interpreter Harold Caldwell of Colonial Williamsburg has recently been demonstrating 18-century carpentry in the workshop. Using period practices, Caldwell will be making a bed for display in the reconstructed slave quarters.
Reconstructed Stone Quarters
The stone quarters that stand today are a reconstruction of the original slave quarters that existed at Stratford Hall. An insurance drawing from 1801 confirmed that the original quarters were stone buildings.
The quarters would probably have been housing for enslaved individuals working in or near the Great House. The enslaved who worked in the fields would have lived closer to the land they worked on, probably in wooden buildings.