History
Although fire during the American Civil War destroyed many of the records detailing the history of Elsing Green, the Lafferty Foundation holds to what it believes as an accurate account of the plantation’s history.
The plantation was passed down through the West family after the death of Colonel John West in 1692. It eventually became associated with the Dandridge family of George Washington’s wife, Martha Custis. It is said that Martha Custis Washington actually rode her horse through the house.
The Dandridges built the Queen Anne manor house and kitchen house between 1715 and 1720. Carter Braxton, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, bought the plantation in 1753.
The plantation, through several inheritances and purchases, was eventually sold in the 1930s to Beverly D. Causey, whose family took it upon themselves to restore the then degraded property and structures.
Nearly two decades later, the family of the current owners, purchased Elsing Green. In 1950, Edgar R. Lafferty, Jr., and his wife, Margaret, continued the restoration and expanded the plantation by adding previously purchased land adjacent to Elsing Green.
Read more about this topic: Elsing Green
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