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Maymont, Gilded Age Estate:
During the Gilded Age (ca 1880-1910) when great fortunes were being made, many ornamental estates such as Maymont were built throughout America. These extravagant showplaces demonstrated their owners' affluence as well as the upper-class taste for diverse historical and exotic styles.
In 1886, the Dooleys purchased 100 acres of rolling countryside on the James River as the site for their new home. Architect Edgerton Rogers designed the thirty-three-room, sandstone mansion, completed in 1893. The opulent upstairs rooms are restored and filled with original furnishings and artwork acquired by the Dooleys. The restored downstairs service area is furnished with artifacts of the period.
Over time, the Dooleys developed the estate landscape, creating the Italian garden, Japanese garden, grotto, arboretum, and extensive parkland. Largely intact today, the original complex of picturesque outbuildings included the gatehouse, stone barn, carriage house, water tower, compost house, chicken coop, and stable, later used as the Dooleys garage. The Dooleys' mausoleum was added in 1923.
An elaborate ensemble of architecture, landscape, furnishings, and carriages, Maymont today provides an unusually complete representation of a distintive era of America's past.
Maymont, Domestic Workplace:
Maymont was not only a home and showplace; it was also a workplace. The Dooleys typically employed seven to ten individuals to maintain the order and beauty of their residence. Their household staff included two butlers, two cooks, a housemaid, lady's maid, chauffeur, coachman, and laundress. With few exceptions, these domestic employees were African Americans.
For southern blacks, the era was anything but gilded. While free from slavery, their work opportunities remained limited to agriculture, factory work, and domestic service. The period also brought increasingly strict racial segregation.
To learn more about the individuals who worked here, visit the restored kitchen, laundry, pantries, and other service areas. |