Salubria, Circa mid-1740's



Salubria, located some seven miles east of the town of Culpeper, is thought to be the oldest brick house in Culpeper County. It was constructed in formal Georgian style at a time when Culpeper County was still close in the frontier. Although the precise date of construction is not certain, Salubria was built in the mid-1740's by the Reverend John Thompson, whose first wife was the widow of Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood.

Salubria's exterior is distinguished by unusually tall, corbel capped chimneys, enclosed at each end of a hip roof. The house has identical front and rear facades and is built of brick laid in Flemish bond. Three sides of the house are stuccoed in a manner simulating rustication, though for some reason the east end never received this treatment.

                        circa 1890's

The interior of the house follows the familiar center hall plan on all three levels with two rooms on each side of a very wide hallway. All the first and second floor rooms have corner fireplaces. One room in the basement has a large fireplace and probably served as the original kitchen.

The location of early outbuildings is not known, except for an icehouse off the southwest corner that was still visible in the 1950's. A 19th century frame kitchen wing on the east end of the main house was removed about 1950 when basic repairs were made to keep the house structurally sound. Covered porches, which were not original and had deteriorated, were replaced by simple wooden steps.

                                 circa 1930's

Outside the house, at the foot of the south steps, is a curious geometric design made by bricks and small stones. The large oval box bushes on this side were set out in the 1950's; the terraces beyond, date from the early period of the house.

The Reverend John Thompson was the rector of St. Mark's Parish from 1740 until his death in 1772. In November 1742, he married Lady Spotswood who lived at Germanna, seven miles east on the Rapidan River. She died about 1758, and a few years later the Reverend Thompson married Elizabeth Rootes. When the minister died in October 1772, he left Salubria to his wife and at her death to their son, Phillip Rootes Thompson.

Lady Butler Brayne Spotswood Thompson      The Honorable Phillip Rootes Thompson

In 1792, the property was sold to Mordecai Barbour. Ten years later, the Barbour family sold to James Hansbrough. A small Hansbrough family graveyard lies on a wooded knoll about 100 yards northeast of the house. James Hansbrough is said to have given Salubria its name, which comes from the Latin adjective meaning healthful.

          William Hansbrough                       Sarah Vaughn Hansbrough

    Dr. John Cooke Grayson                Nellie Pettus Grayson

In 1853, Salubria was acquired from John Calhoun Hansbrough by Robert 0. Grayson. His mother, Sarah Mason Cooke Grayson, gave surety for the purchase. She was the granddaughter of George Mason of Gunston Hall. The property in 1865 was divided between Robert 0. Grayson and his brother Dr. John Cooke Grayson, who was living in the house after the Civil War. His son, Admiral Cary T. Grayson, who was Presidential Physician to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, as well as both Presidential and personal physician to President Woodrow Wilson, was born at Salubria in 1878. He later headed the American Red Cross. His parents and infant sister are buried at the end of the garden terrace directly south of the house.

Admiral Dr. Cary Travers Grayson with President Woodrow Wilson.

 After the death of Nellie Pettus Grayson, John Cooke Grayson remarried a Mrs. Walton, a widow who was born a Taliaferro. When the second Mrs. Grayson died in 1893, rather than leave the estate to the children of Dr. Grayson, she left it to her nieces Miss Alice Taliaferro, and Miss Nannie Taliaferro Fry. Alice died in 1933, and Nannie died in 1937.

Mr. H. P. Walton, stepson of Dr. John Cooke Grayson visits Salubria in 1933. Mr. Walton grew up at Salubria, moving there in the 1880s.

The house was then inherited by Miss Maria Julia Grayson, of Charlottesville, a niece of Admiral Grayson, who sold it in 1942 to Mr. George L. Harrison, of Washington D.C. who purchased it for his stepsons, the sons of Admiral Grayson, whose widow he had married. Beginning in 1950, the renowned architect, Washington Reed of Warrenton, Virginia, began extensive stabilization of the house. At the same time Reed was stabilizing the White House for President Harry S. Truman. Reed removed all of the modern additions to the house as well as the outbuildings, returning the house to its original 1742 design.

The small boy on the drivers seat of the wagon (arrow) is Admiral Cary T. Grayson at the cheese factory at Brandy Station, Virginia near Salubria. This 1890s photo was taken by Jno. H. Frye of Brandy.

In October 2000, Laura N. Grayson, widow of J. Gordon Grayson, son of Admiral Cary T. Grayson, donated Salubria to the Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc.

Salubria was placed on the Virginia Historic Landmarks Register in 1969 and on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

Shown below are two old photographs taken of Salubria. Information about their origins will be added when we determine the details. If you have any information about these photos, please contact us.

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