Description
The parents of Confederate commander Robert E. Lee were married at Shirley Plantation, the home of the Carter family since 1660.
A Carter daughter, at her engagement party, used one of the dining room windows to test the authenticity of a diamond presented to her by a man she did not wish to marry. Caught in the act of carving and asked to explain, she claimed to be carving their initials in the glass. Subsequent generations have added their initials, upon engagement, to the glass.
Shirley is about an hour drive from Richmond. Follow the signs to James River Plantations off I-64 east.