Huntland
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
Huntland in 2008 ((By Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons))
![Huntland in 2008 ((By Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons))](https://storage.googleapis.com/clio-images/medium_25356.55659.jpg)
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
In 1834, master brickmason William Benton Sr. constructed the estate building that would later become Huntland. Initially, Huntland was a Federal-era architectural style home known as New Lisbon, but soon after the home was constructed, several other buildings were built up, including a spring house, a smokehouse, and a cottage for guests of the property. Benton and part of his family lived at New Lisbon for a time, and the home would stay in the Benton family line throughout the entire rest of the nineteenth century. In 1900, the home was sold to Annie Leith, who, during her ownership of the land, added a number of farm building to the property. However, she soon sold the property in 1912 to Joseph Thomas.
In 1915, Thomas began some large-scale renovations to Huntland, completely remodeling the house and adding one-story expansions to the home, as well as revamping the architectural style from the Federal-era work to that of a Colonial-Revival style. Additionally, he added numerous gates, horse stables, kennels, and other effects that would evoke the image of an English manor well-equipped for foxhunting, which Thomas engaged in often after making his necessary additions to the estate. Throughout the rest of the twentieth century, Huntland would change hands several more times. In September of 2013, it was designated on the Virginia Landmark Register, and on December 24th, 2013, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Recently, Huntland came under new ownership, and the present owners have taken it upon themselves to begin another renovation project on the home.