Robert E Lee High School - Leeway / Record Yearbook (Staunton, VA)

Page 10 text:

Stratford Hoase At the close of the Kevoliitionary War, Lii ' ht-Horse Harry” Lee, father of General Robert E. Lee, took up residence at Stratford House, Westmoreland County, Virginia. The oriy inal Stratford House was built by Richard Lee, the first of the family in the Colonies. In the time of Thomas Lee, of Kiny ’s Council, it was destroyed by fire, and restored at a cost of $80,000, through a fund provided by admirers, including the Covernor, merchants of the colony, and Queen Ann. The laborious part of the work was undertaken by servants of the manor, so that since no cash was paid for this, probably the $80,000 was spent for brick, furnishings, decorations, etc., imported from Eng¬ land. It was built in the form of H, with walls sev¬ eral feet thick; a thirty-foot salon in the center; in each wing a pavilion, with balustrades, and chimneys rising from the center of the roofs. This was an im¬ mense house; built for all time; intended to serve as ij resort and retreat for future branches of the family. The location of Stratford House is a promontory on the south side of the Potomac. As originally designed, great lawns surrounded the house, with immense Lom¬ bardy poplars and other ornamental trees gracing the grounds. In the year 1811 General Henry Lee left Stratford and located in Alexandria, Va., in order to secure for his children better education facilities. He died in Georgia, 1818; but Mrs. Lee continued to reside in Alexandria. From the Alexandria laome, on the rec¬ ommendation of President ( Old Hickory”) fackson, Robert E. Lee went to West Point as cadet of tJje State of Virginia.

Page 12 text:

Views of the School May the spir f of hini whose name this school hears influence those uho learn within its walls, and may Time so mellow the memory of its long halls and familiar class¬ rooms, that it will be sweet to re¬ call them in the long years tl.nit are to come.