Sketch of Colonel John Mayo’s House at the Hermitage Near Richmond, Virginia.

Description

Watercolor on paper drawing of "Sketch of Colonel John Mayo's House at the Hermitage Near Richmond, Virginia", July 10, 1797, from the Latrobe Sketchbooks, by Benjamin Henry Latrobe. This sketch features the grounds and home known as "Hermitage", which was a large estate owned by Colonel John Mayo, Jr. (1760-1818), a graduate of William & Mary College and Representative of Henrico County in the State Legislature (1785-1786, 1793, 1795-1796). He also built Mayo's Bridge in 1788, the first bridge ever constructed in Richmond. On June 29, 1797, Latrobe recorded that he spent the morning of June 28 at "Hermitage" and wrote extensively about the "dirt daubers", or wasps, he encountered in the home.