
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 25, 1990                   TAG: 9006250249
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FREDERICKSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

PLANTATION SITE DONATED TO COLLEGE

The site of a once-grand 18th century plantation rescued from a developer's bulldozers five years ago will now be a laboratory for Mary Washington College archaeology students.

A historic preservation group Sunday gave the college the 65-acre site of Virginia Gov. Alexander Spotswood's mansion and farm.

College students will help excavate Spotswood's mansion and dozens of other buildings that once occupied the site.

Archaeological work shows the Spotswood house, called the Enchanted Castle, was built in 1720 and likely burned about 1750.

The house once had a formal, landscaped forecourt and terraced gardens, said Carter Hudgins, director of the Center for Historic Preservation at Mary Washington.

"The excavations will reveal how what was then `the West' was settled and how Governor Spotswood and other planters tamed Virginia's frontier," Hudgins said.

The site is about 15 miles west of the college's Fredericksburg campus.

by CNB