Editor Pick
Executive Mansion
- September 7, 2000
- Rated 4 of 5 by
Carter from Richmond, Virginia
One Governors' wife complained in the 1800s that the only antiques in the place were the tin roof & the falling floors. The Executive Mansion has undergone quite a bit of renovation since then, including one by the current First Lady of Virginia. Elegant first-floor rooms (which now contain a great many antiques) may be toured by the public on Mondays, Tuesdays (2-4) & Fridays (10-4).
The Executive Mansion has been the home of several Governors who were later U.S. Presidents. It was also here that Confederate General Robert E. Lee lay in state after his death.
Reports of hauntings at the site begin in the 1890s, when a Governor saw a woman in an upstairs bedroom. When he asked his wife who her guest was, she replied that she had no guest. The same woman has been seen by guards over time. One was so frightened by her he quit!
News correspondent Ann Compton was called to the Mansion to see an unearthly manifestation during one of her visits to Richmond. Although a hurricaine had caused a city-wide power failure, she was surprised to find that a light in the ladies stairwell at the Mansion continued to burn.
From journal Historic Homes & Gardens