Jerdone Castle: Ellen Glasgow's Childhood Summer Home

Jerdone Castle: Ellen Glasgow's Childhood Summer Home

Suffragist Ellen Glasgow's Summer Home

Ellen Glasgow was a prominent part of the movement for women’s suffrage and was the honorary vice-president of the Equal Suffrage League. Glasgow was born and lived most of her life in Richmond. As a young child, before she became a well-known suffragist, Glasgow’s family’s summer home was Jerdone Castle in Louisa County. In her autobiography, Glasgow describes loving the farm “in the way one loves not only a place but a person.” (1) Being a young child, the farm and its surrounding lands filled Glasgow’s head with wonder, adventure, and curiosity. “Every vista in the woods beckoned [her]; every field held its own secret; every tree near [their] house had a name of its own and a special identity.” (2) While living at Jerdone Castle, she gave the trees names, such as Charles and Godwin, worked her own personal garden, played with her pet dog Pat, and made friends with the other children from surrounding farms.

1. Ellen Glasgow, The Woman Within (The University Press of Virginia, 1994), 26.

 2. Ellen Glasgow, The Woman Within (The University Press of Virginia, 1994), 27.

Louisa County Historical Society Archives

Louisa County Historical Society

1950

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