Episode 252 was inspired by Agecroft Hall in Richmond, and is all about Tudor Places in America. Visit Tudor history without having to grab your passport (assuming you’re in the US, that is!)
Below the episode you’ll find a transcript for easy reading.
Hello and welcome to the Renaissance English History Podcast, a part of the Agora Podcast Network and the original Tudor History Podcast, 15 years of Tudor history, podcasting, and stories. I hope you are having a great day. Afternoon, morning, depending on when you’re listening to this. It is morning here as I’m recording, so I’m just going to go with that and say good morning.
I hope you’re having a wonderful morning. Today we are going to talk about Tudor places you can visit in the U. S., right? That’s a weird one, huh? But I was thinking about Agecroft Hall and then I did a massive email clear out a couple days ago, and somebody had written to me, I think it was Misty. I apologize if I got that wrong, but somebody wrote to me and suggested I do an episode on St. Augustine in Florida, which of course is the oldest continuous European settlement in the United States because the Spanish were there.
And so I was looking at doing something on that because I thought that was really interesting and I thought about Agecroft and I thought about all these different places in the U.S. that actually have a connection to the Tudors or the very early Stewarts. And so here we are doing an episode on that. And of course I was thinking about Agecroft because TudorCon is coming up in, gosh, just over a week. I am so excited. I’m so excited to see the community of people in person. We always have such a great time with each other.
As well as the streaming people who come online. It is always so much fun to see everybody having conversations online, to see everybody being part of it. Just such a wonderful weekend and I am really excited! Of course, you can get your online ticket if you haven’t yet by going to englandcast. com slash TutorCon online and, uh, reserving your spot there.
I’ve been getting all of the final preparations done, things like renewing my wifi hotspot plan, uh, in case the wifi at Agecroft goes out for whatever reason and printing out programs and things like that. So it’s been a TutorCon sort of time and I just love it. So thank you for making that possible and.
Thank you to those of you who come and thanks to everybody who participates. Let us get into it and talk about Tudor related places in the U. S. Tudor England has long fascinated Americans from its politics and dramatic monarchs to its cultural legacy. While the Tudor dynasty reigned across the Atlantic, its influence can still be found in some unexpected places throughout the U.
S. In fact, there are several sites in the U. S. where you can explore actual Tudor era buildings and artifacts, providing a direct connection to that historical period. Beyond that, Elizabethan explorers like Sir Francis Drake left their mark on American soil, linking U. S. history with Tudor England’s global reach.
And finally, we’re going to talk about the Tudor Revival Movement in the 20th century. that brought the style and architecture of Tudor England to homes and estates across the country and places you can visit that were part of that Tudor revival. So in this episode, we’ll talk about actual Tudor and Elizabethan places like H.
Croft Hall, Drake’s Impact in St. Augustine in California, and Stuart era locations tied to Tudor history. and Tudor inspired architecture. Together, these pieces allow us to connect with Tudor England without having to renew our passports. Let’s start with actual Tudor and Elizabethan places you can go to in the U.
S., and I’m going to start, of course, with Agecroft Hall. And, it’s neighbor Virginia House, both in Richmond, and Agecroft is the site of TudorCon. But the story goes that in the 1920s, there was a wealthy tobacco farmer, Thomas C. Williams Jr., who had a vision to create a little slice of England in Richmond.
He inherited a farm known as Windsor and began purchasing adjacent parcels of land, eventually acquiring 440 acres. Williams partnered with a renowned landscape architect John Nolan to design an idyllic English village, which they called Windsor Farms. The development was modeled after the garden suburb style that was popular in England at the time, offering Richmond’s elite a retreat from the city’s heat and grime while maintaining the conveniences of modern life.
Windsor Farms quickly became home to some of the most stunning Tudor Revival architecture in the U. S. To enhance the English village feel, Williams and his team brought in authentic Tudor homes from England, starting with Aitchcroft Hall and Virginia House. Though similar in their English roots and Tudor architecture, the two houses tell very different stories.
Aitchcroft was originally a single grand manor home built actually pre Tudor in the late 15th century in Lancashire in England. The hall was dismantled, shipped across the Atlantic, and reassembled in Richmond by architects who preserved its original features, from its half timbered facade to its intricately carved interiors.
Today, it stands as a faithful representation to Tudor life, with exhibits that immerse visitors in the culture and history of the Tudor period and the family that had owned the home through the years. Every room is meticulously restored, showcasing original Tudor furniture, some of it original to the house, and even the estate’s traditional English gardens.
Virginia House is a blend of architectural elements from three different buildings. all brought over from England. Originally a priory in Warwickshire, parts of the house date back to the 16th century. Virginia House was also dismantled and reconstructed in Richmond, resulting in a more eclectic structure than Aitchcroft.
The house combines the original Tudor elements as well as some features from some later periods, and inside the rooms are furnished with a mix of Tudor era and American colonial pieces connecting both periods. It is a museum, but it also tells the story of the American families who lived there, bridging the gap between Tudor England and colonial America.
While H. Croft represents a single estate’s journey from Lancashire to Virginia, Virginia House is more of a patchwork of history offering a broader view of Tudor architecture and its evolution. The same architects worked on both projects, but Virginia House’s blend of structures makes it a little bit more eclectic with its Tudor influence.
Both homes are products of the same movement, though, a desire to create an English village in the heart of Richmond. Windsor Farms became a retreat for the city’s wealthiest residents, complete with English inspired roads and common areas and a community hall that has tea rooms and little tea shops.
And today Windsor Farms retains much of its original charm, which we will see when we go to TudorCon, I’m super excited, which is a testament to Williams’s vision for bringing England to the American South. In addition to these relocated Tudor homes, museums across the U. S. house key artifacts from the Tudor period.
The Cloisters in New York City, one of my favorite, favorite places. It’s part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s such a stunning place. I’ll never forget the first time I went there and I got off the subway and I was walking, you know, it’s right along the river and it’s Like this little neighborhood, I was living, gosh, on 34th street at the time.
And, you know, in the bustle of everything in Manhattan, then you get off the subway and it’s just like this calm, peaceful little neighborhood. And it was amazing. And then you just see these cloisters, this medieval monastery coming out at you, filled with these medieval and Renaissance artifacts, including pieces from the Tudor period.
It’s very cool. You can see armor, tapestries, illuminated manuscripts. that reflect the craftsmanship of the Tudor period. So if you are anywhere near the cloisters, you should totally go. It’s awesome. The Met also has a few standout pieces from Tudor England, including portraits of Elizabeth I and Henry VIII, as well as furnishings from royal households.
And smaller collections can be found in museums across the country, offering glimpses into Tudor daily life, whether through items like pewter dishes or books. Or decorative objects tied to England’s famous dynasty. The, the Getty, I went to the Getty one time to see the illuminated manuscripts that they have there too.
So, so beautiful. And I was just blown away that that existed in, in Los Angeles. And then there’s also in Pasadena, the Huntington, which is famous for its collection of old maps. So if you are anywhere near Pasadena and you can go to the Huntington. Check out the maps that date all the way back to the 16th century.
So you can see some of these original maps that you see in books and stuff are actually like right there outside of Pasadena, uh, at the Huntington’s. So. There’s a lot you can see in museums in the U. S. as well. Speaking of Pasadena, let’s talk about California and Florida. Well, we’ll talk, we’ll start with Florida.
In 1586, Francis Drake, who was, of course, a renowned privateer under Elizabeth, launched a raid on the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine, Florida. Now, at the time, Spain controlled vast portions of the Americas, and, of course, tensions between Spain and England were very high. This is just two years before the Armada.
Particularly over trade routes and colonies, Drake’s raid on St. Augustine was part of this broader conflict between the two nations, often manifesting in naval skirmishes and privateering raids. Drake and his fleet of 23 ships attacked the settlement, burning buildings, destroying supplies and capturing valuable goods.
This raid was significant because it directly undermined Spain’s efforts to establish a permanent foothold in Florida. It was one of several blows that Drake dealt to the Spanish interest in the New World, part of a larger campaign to weaken Spain’s dominance and assert England’s growing power. The raid also connected to the larger Tudor period’s ambitions of empire building.
Elizabeth I’s reign saw England expand its influence through both exploration and military ventures, with figures like Drake playing crucial roles. The destruction of St. Augustine was part of this effort to disrupt Spain’s hold over its colonies. Setting the stage for further English ventures in America.
Funny, about nine years ago, eight, nine years ago, when we had first moved to Andalusia in Spain, I went to Cadiz and I filmed a video talking about Drake’s raid that he did on Cadiz. They called it the singeing of the King of Spain’s beard. My daughter who just walked in, no, you were, you were in a stroller then and I was walking around the streets of Cadiz talking about the singeing of the King of Spain’s beard and it’s still on YouTube.
Now let’s move to California, Drake’s 1577 1580 circumnavigation of the globe remains one of the most famous voyages in history and his exploits in the Americas are an integral part of his legacy. So this is almost a decade before the 1586 St. Augustine raid. After raiding Spanish ports along the western coast of South and Central America, Drake and his crew sailed north in search of a suitable harbor to repair their ship, the Golden Hind.
It was leaking. It, you know, they’d had this, Ridiculously long voyage just to get there, and they needed to put into port and repair the ship. He claimed a piece of land on the west coast of North America, which he named Nova Albion, or New England, in honor of Elizabeth. The exact location, though, of this landing has been a source of controversy for centuries.
While many have pointed to Drake’s Bay, a small inlet near San Francisco, as the site of this landing, there is some doubt. Some historians argue that the description of the coastline and the latitude doesn’t align with Drake’s Bay. Some scholars suggest that Drake may have landed further north, possibly as far as Oregon.
The shrouded in secrecy to avoid provoking Spain into open conflict. Which leaves the exact location a matter of speculation. Adding to the controversy, a brass plate reportedly left by Drake to mark his claim was discovered near Drake’s Bay in 1937. But this was then debunked as a forgery decades later.
The plate is now considered a hoax, but the mystery surrounding Drake’s exact landing persists. New theories continue to emerge, including arguments that wind currents and Drake’s own writings suggest a landing site much further north than previously thought. Regardless of the precise location, though, Drake’s travels along the California coast extended England’s reach into the Americas, albeit briefly.
His claim on Nova Albion, whether in California or Oregon, reflects the ambitions of the Tudor dynasty to challenge Spain’s supremacy and explore new territories. Although no permanent English settlements followed, you can drive up along the California coast and get off in Marin County or visit Drake’s Bay and imagine that you are this early privateer going around the world, sailing into the unknown.
Now let’s move on and talk about stewart and early colonial places with Tudor ties. There is, of course, Jamestown, named after James I. Established in 1607, so just four years after Elizabeth died, and this is the beginning of permanent English settlement in North America. Though founded during the Stort period, the roots of Jamestown lie deeply in the Elizabethan legacy.
Under Elizabeth, explorers like Sir Walter Raleigh and Drake had begun to probe the New World, setting the stage for future colonization efforts. The early Jamestown settlers were influenced by the ideals and ambitions that had taken shape during Elizabeth’s reign. Many of the colonists came from families who had thrived in Tudor England, and they carried with them the values and political ambitions shaped during the Tudor period.
They saw Jamestown as a chance to establish a permanent English presence in North America, continuing the expansionist policies that Elizabeth had set into motion. The settlement became a key foothold for England. Building upon the legacy of Elizabethan exploration while pushing forward into a new era.
In 1619, there was another settlement, one of the oldest plantations in the United States, Barkley Plantation, which holds deep connections to many of the early English settlers. Many of them, of course, were descended from Tudor explorers and courtiers. Barclay’s founders were descendants of Sir William Barclay, a colonial governor of Virginia, with roots in Tudor England.
The plantation itself has a brick mansion and formal gardens, and it offers a glimpse into the lives of Virginia’s early settlers, many of whom sought to recreate the grandeur of the English country estates. The 17th century furnishings to personal items, reflect the cultural heritage brought over by these settlers.
And the influence of Tudor England is also present in this architecture with elements reminiscent of English manors, further tying colonial past to its Tudor roots. Interestingly, Barkley is finding new ways to acknowledge its past and be part of some of the reassessments of plantations in the U. S. In 2018, Barclay was the movie set of Harriet, based on Harriet Tubman and her escape from slavery and her mission to free hundreds of slaves through the Underground Railroad.
So there were enslaved people present at Barclay Plantation during the period that it was a tobacco farm in colonial times up to the Civil War. And they are working with researchers and historians to bring more of that discussion to light so that when you visit, you’ll be able to see the stories and learn about the stories of all of the people who lived there.
So that is a little bit about Barclay Plantation in Charles City in Virginia. Now let’s talk about Tudor inspired architecture in the U. S. So I talked about the Cloisters earlier as the museum part, but the Cloisters itself, the building, is a reconstructed medieval monastery made up of parts of European buildings designed to transport visitors into the past.
Of course, there’s the collection within its walls that we talked about. But the building itself offers unique architecture that mimics the Gothic and Renaissance styles that were prominent during the Tudor reign. You walk around and you just feel like you’re in a medieval monastery and it, it really, it really transports you back in time.
So again, plus one for the cloisters. There’s also the Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens in Ohio, which is a prime example of Tudor revival architecture in the U. S. It was built between 1912 and 1915, and it was built for the industrialist F. A. Seiberling who was the co founder of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.
Inspired by the grand manor houses of Tudor England, Stan Hywood Hall combines elements of English half timbering, tall chimneys, and leaded glass windows, creating an impressive reflection of Tudor architectural style. The Tudor Revival movement, which took hold in the early 20th century, appealed to wealthy Americans, Gilded Age Americans, who sought to emulate the grandeur of English country estates.
And Stan Highway is one of the most well preserved examples of this trend, offering visitors a chance to step into this period. Grin Ohio. Finally, also in the Midwest, in Chicago, there’s the Glessner House Museum. The Glessner House was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson in 1887, another remarkable example of how Tudor design and aesthetics were revived and celebrated in America.
Though the house is primarily Romanesque in style, it does incorporate elements of Tudor architecture that were becoming popular during this period, like a steeply pitched roof, massive chimney, and intricate woodwork. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Tudor aesthetics became fashionable in the U.
S. as they represented stability, tradition, and a connection to the grandeur of old Europe. I just read that book, it’s called To Marry an English Lord, and it was about all of the American heiresses who were marrying into the aristocracy and they were bringing like their, their massive fortune that they had from industrialism.
To England. We see that, of course, in like Downton Abbey. She was, Cora, I think her name was, was an heiress who brought her money to Downton. Uh, and, and this was very common for American heiresses who were inheriting wealth to take that to England. And what they were talking about was the reason in America there wasn’t this class system that there was in England, and these people who had all this money from industrialization really wanted to feel part of the upper class, and so they were kind of creating their own class system and also marrying into an existing class system in England.
And so along with that came this interest in having these homes and creating these Tudor houses if you were building them from scratch with all of the modern amenities or bringing them over from England themselves like Hcroft was. So it’s really interesting to see how people during this period of immense change in American history with this new wealth coming in from industrialization, from the railroads, from factories were taking that money and putting it into creating something older, feeling like there was that tradition that they could be part of.
Even though it was, of course, quote unquote, new money. I find it very fascinating. And the book, I think it’s called To Marry an English Lord, was really good. I listened to an audiobook version of it, uh, and, and I really enjoyed it. So there you go. Heather’s, Heather got on a little bit of a sidetrack there.
But Tudor England may seem far removed from the U. S., but its influence can be found in unexpected places, from actual Tudor homes like Agecroft and Virginia House, transported brick by brick across the Atlantic. to Francis Drake’s raid on St. Augustine, his visit to Nova Albion, wherever that was, the Tudor legacy has left its mark in America.
Even in the architecture of the early 20th century, the fascination with Tudor style has persisted, shaping the design of homes and public buildings across America. So there are many sites where you can explore Tudor history without having to leave the U. S. If you go to any of these places, I would love to know, I would love to know what they were like.
I’ve been to several of them, uh, but I, I have not been to those ones in the Midwest. So I’m going to have to go on a road trip here soon and check that out. Uh, if you have though, let me know. I would love to hear what it was like for you and, uh, and to hear your thoughts. So we will end it there. I appreciate you being here.
I appreciate your listenership. Just a reminder, a quick reminder that, like I said, TutorCon is coming up September 20th to 22nd. Did I mention it’s at H. Croft Hall? And you can get your tickets at englandcast. com slash TutorCon online. And of course, this podcast and TutorCon is sponsored by Armor and Castings, which makes beautiful, historically accurate replica Jewelry and accessories.
So I highly suggest you check them out. Tutor. ArmorandCastings. com Alright, my friends. Thank you so much for your listenership. Thank you for hanging out with me. Oh, I gotta say, I really loved I asked in the last episode what you all do when you listen to this show. And I love that people are doing crafts.
That’s super cool. I see. I hadn’t expected that I had expected. Maybe some of you were at the gym and some of you were driving because that’s what I do when I listen to podcasts. So you see, I was in my own head because I am of course, the center of my universe. But there was all this other really cool stuff you guys are doing like crafting, like having a nice cup of tea because it’s in the UK when my shows generally come out, it’s evening and so you’re having your evening cup of tea and you are playing mindless video games on your phone, which is also something that I do when I’m listening to audio books and podcasts.
So very cool. Thank you for sharing. I really, I really loved reading those. Okay. I will let you continue doing that and I will be back again very soon. Thanks so much. Bye bye.
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop. She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.