Battle of Yorktown

16. Edmund Smith House

Yorktown, VA

Book Now

The Edmund Smith House was built on Colonial lot 53. William Simson acquired the property in September 1699, but he failed to build a house that was at least 20 feet, so he forfeited ownership. In 1706, Major Lawrence Smith paid 180 pounds of tobacco for the land and built a structure on the site. Smith was a notable figure in Yorktown. He had led Gloucester men against Nathaniel Bacon's revolt in 1677, and participated in the Indian wars after the 1622 massacre. He passed the home and land to his son Edmund in January 1734. Edmund demolished the original structure and began constructing a newer home on the site, but passed away in 1751 before the house was completed. The home was most likely built for his daughter Mildred, who married Yorktown merchant David Jameson.In his will, Edmund Smith stated, "I give and bequeath unto my daughter Mildred Smith my Lot of Land in York Town whereon I am now building. It is my Will and desire that the House should be finished out of my Estate."David Jameson served in the Virginia Senate during the Revolutionary War and was named to Patrick Henry's Privy Council in 1777. He also acted as Governor Thomas Nelson's Lieutenant Governor in 1781, and served as acting governor while Nelson was ill. The Jamesons leased the property to Williamsburg merchant James Tarpley, but they moved back in nine months later and remained in the home until their deaths. Mildred passed away in 1788 and David in 1793. They had no living children, so the estate was divided among three of David's cousins. John Jameson, one of the cousins, inherited the house and lot. John, a Revolutionary War veteran, was allegedly wounded at Valley Forge when he participated in the capture of Benedict Arnold's conspirator Major John Andre in 1780. Major Thomas Griffin, a member of the Virginia Congress from 1803 to 1805 and a veteran of the war of 1812, purchased the land in 1815. It briefly served as a tavern around 1838, when Frederick B. Power owned the property. William S. Mallicote purchased and updated the house in 1852, and for many years afterward, the home was called the "Mallicote House." Lucy O'Hara acquired the house around 1900, and she stated that the home had a high front porch with a rail around it. The dependencies had long since disappeared, and the home was not in especially good condition by the turn of the century. It served as a temporary school in 1913 to help with school overcrowding at the regular building. Mrs. W.L. Scott, a first grade student, noted that one of the fireplaces was 'burned through' and a fire could only be built in one corner. The house passed through a number of owners until George Blow purchased it as part of his sizable York Hall Estate and used it as a guest cottage. The National Parks Service acquired the house in 1967 and restored it to its colonial appearance for the 1976 Bicentennial celebrations.