Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial

Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial, in Charlotte County, Virginia, near the Town of Brookneal, is the final home and burial place of Founding Father Patrick Henry, the fiery legislator and orator of the American Revolution. Henry bought Red Hill Plantation at his retirement in 1794 and occupied it until 1799, the year of his death. In addition to the main house, Henry used another building as his law office. There were also dependencies and slave quarters on the working 2,930-acre tobacco plantation.[3] The plantation was located on the Staunton River for transportation.

Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial
Red Hill, 2016
Map of the United States
Location	Charlotte County, Virginia, United States
Nearest city	Lynchburg, Virginia
Coordinates	37°1′56″N 78°53′53″W
Area	1,000 acres (4.046 km2)
Established	May 13, 1986 (May 13, 1986)
Governing body	Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation
Website	redhill.org
Red Hill
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Memorial
Virginia Landmarks Register
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Nearest city	Lynchburg, Virginia
Area	1,000 acres (400 ha)
Architect	Stanhope Johnson
Architectural style	Colonial
Restored	1950s and 1960s
Website	redhill.org
NRHP reference No.	78003012[1]
VLR No.	019-0027
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	February 14, 1978
Designated VLR	September 18, 1983[2]

Congress authorized the establishment of a Patrick Henry National Monument on August 15, 1935 (49 Stat. 652) pending the acquisition of the property by the Secretary of the Interior. The purchase never occurred, and the enabling legislation was repealed on December 21, 1944 (58 Stat. 852).

The site was taken over by the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation, established in 1944,[4] which in the 1950s and 1960s restored Henry's law office and preserved his grave onsite. It also reconstructed his last home and several dependencies. A new museum was built to provide for interpretation of his life and place in 1976.

Red Hill Plantation was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 14, 1978. The national memorial was authorized by the United States Congress on May 13, 1986. Owned by the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation, Red Hill is operated as a house museum and is an affiliated area of the National Park Service, meaning that the Foundation can request certain assistance from the NPS in preserving and interpreting the site.

Planning in the 2000s for the site includes a master plan to guide improvements. The first project, supported by 2006 grant money, will be improvements and additions of walking trails to help visitors understand transportation and plantation agriculture. It will relate the site to 18th century bateaux trade and transportation along the river, its ferry site, and the later addition of a 19th-century "former railroad whistle stop". It will restore plantation roads to the plantation distillery, laundry and graveyard of enslaved African Americans.[5] Currently, the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation cares for about 1,000 acres of Henry's original land.