| 1750/05/10 |
Adam Stephen |
Owner |
General Stephen buys "The Bower" property. |
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| 1753/00/00 |
Adam Stephen |
Home |
Adam Stephen begins living at his "Bower Lodge". |
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| 1780/00/00 |
Ann Stephen Hunter |
Owner |
Gen Stephen gives The Bower property to his daughter Ann Stephen and her husband, Cap Alexander Spottswood Dandridge. The couple will resided here until Alexander S Dandridge's death in 1785. |
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| 1785/04/00 |
Alexander Spotwood Dandridge |
Died |
Captain Alexander Spotswood Dandridge dies at home. |
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| 1791/00/00 |
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"The Bower" property passes, upon the death of General Stephen in 1791, to his only grandchild, Adam Stephen Dandridge I. |
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| 1801/01/01 |
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Sarah Pendleton marries Adam Stephen Dandridge and, soon after, construction begins on "The Bower" mansion. |
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| 1806/00/00 |
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Built by Black slave labor, the home of Adam and Sarah Dandridge and their rapidly growing family is completed. The couple had six children, one of whom, Mary Evelina, married Robert M T Hunter, future CSA Secretary of State. |
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| 1833/00/00 |
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At the death of Adam Dandridge, The Bower passes to his son, Adam Stephen Dandridge II, who married Serena Pendleton. The home became a center for county social events. A gentleman farmer, Dandridge farmed and bred horses on his 1000 acres estate. |
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| 1862/09/28 |
Fitzhugh Lee |
Guest |
Invited by Adam Stephen Dandridge II, General Wade Hampton and General Fitzhugh Lee arrive at The Bower, encamping in a nearby oak grove. |
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| 1862/09/28 |
Wade Hampton III |
Guest |
Invited by Adam Stephen Dandridge II, General Wade Hampton and General Fitzhugh Lee arrive at The Bower, encamping in a nearby oak grove. |
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| 1862/09/28 |
James Ewell Brown Stuart |
Guest |
General Stuart arrives at The Bower, where he and his staff are invited to set up headquarters by Adam Stephen Dandridge II. Stuart had his tent placed in the shade of a large oak tree (known later as "Stuart's Oak") on the front lawn of The Bower. |
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| 1862/10/00 |
Robert E Lee |
Life |
In the fall of 1862 after the return of the army from Maryland, J E B Stuart buys a mare bred by Mr Stephen Dandridge "Lucy Long" for Robert E Lee. |
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| 1862/10/00 |
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While serving with J E B Stuart, novelist John Easton Cooke writes under the trees of "The Bower". |
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| 1862/10/10 |
James Ewell Brown Stuart |
Guest |
Stuart and his command stay at "The Bower", enjoying restful merry-making, endless rounds of balls, parties and flirtations (the Dandridge's had six daughters). Gen Stuart left on October 10, 1862 on his raid into Pennsylvania. |
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| 1862/10/17 |
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After another week, the remainder of the command leave "The Bower" and re-joined Stuart, now camped at Leesburg, Virginia, leaving "The Bower" with many memories of an almost "fairy-tale" experience. |
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| 1877/05/03 |
Danske Bedinger Dandridge |
Bride |
Danske Dandridge marries Adam Stephen Dandridge III at "The Bower". They lived there for a time before moving to the nearby estate of "Rose Brake". |
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| 1881/00/00 |
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Lemuel P Dandridge inherits The Bower". His son, of Edmund Pendleton Dandridge, was a well respected scholar and graduate of Oxford, who became Episcopal Bishop of TN, serving in that post for 20 years. |
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| 1892/03/00 |
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A fire guts much of the interior of The Bower, though it was re-built to the original design and with the original walls intact. |
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