Patrick Henry’s Red Hill (Images of America)

Located in the heart of Southside, Virginia, Red Hill is the historic home and burial site of Patrick Henry, the Founding Father famous for his “Give me liberty or give me death!” speech. Named for its distinctive crimson soil overlooking the Staunton River Valley, Red Hill became Henry’s final home in 1794, and it is where he died in 1799. After spending nearly half his life in the political arena defending the rights of the people, Henry’s later years enshrined his legacy as a Cincinnatus of his time. Generations of his descendants as well as descendants of those he enslaved lived on the estate until 1944, when Lucy Gray Henry Harrison, the last of the Henry family to reside there, passed away. That year, the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation was established to purchase and preserve Red Hill as a public museum. The foundation’s mission of education and historic preservation continues today.

About the Authors:

Cody Youngblood, director of Historic Preservation and Collections at Red Hill; Patrick Henry scholar Mark Couvillon; and Patrick Henry Jolly, Henry’s fifth great-grandson, have gathered stories from the Red Hill collections on the land and its people, showcasing photographs, artwork, and artifacts that tell the complex history of this national landmark.