The Steuart Blakemore Building, originally built in 1900 and used as the Lancaster Post Office until 1931, is a museum and historical archive, part of the Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library in Lancaster, Virginia. It forms a part of a five building complex, located in the Lancaster Court House Historic District, which also includes the

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(1820), Clerk's Office (c. 1797), and Lancaster House. The Museum is open to the public, who may view exhibits, participate in educational programs and trace family histories. It seeks to recapture the stories and the rich history of the people of the Northern Neck of the

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Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

. The building has in recent years been used both as storage for the Museum collections and also as the office for the Lancaster County History Book Committee.Rappahannock Record, Kilmarnock, Va, June 9, 2005

History

The building was constructed by an

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, Harvey Gresham, in around 1900. Gresham ran his legal practice from the back of the building and the post office from the front. Until that time there had been no official post office in Lancaster, though postal stops were made to local taverns or stores. After construction of a new Post Office during the 1950s, it became known as "The Old Post Office". In 1983 it was designated a National Historic Landmark, as part of the Lancaster Court House Historic District. an
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The building was donated to the museum in 1986 by George H. Steuart, a native of Lancaster County.Deed of Gift dated 29th July 1986 between George H Steuart and the Mary Ball Washington Museum Steuart was a

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who retired as consul in

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, England. He purchased the building in 1981, and named it in honour of his parents, local physician George H Steuart (1865–1945) and Irene Blakemore.

References

* Article in the ''Rappahannock Record'' by Charlotte Henry, June 9, 2005 * Deed of Gift dated 29 July 1986 between George H Steuart and the Mary Ball Washington Museum, unpublished.

Notes

External links

Official website of The Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library
Retrieved February 21, 2010
Steuart Blakemore Building at www.virginia.org
{Dead link, date=June 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=no Retrieved February 21, 2010 Museums in Lancaster County, Virginia History museums in Virginia Steuart family Commercial buildings completed in 1901 Historic district contributing properties in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Lancaster County, Virginia