Chericoke

Chericoke is a plantation tract in southwestern King William County, Virginia, where a two-and-one-half-story brick house sits on a rise above the Pamunkey River bottom land. Built in 1828, it has Flemish bond brickwork, a high basement, a hipped roof with small dormers, and a two-story Doric portico facing the river. Inside, the L-shaped hall passage, a freestanding Tuscan column and fluted mantels and trim give the plain house unusual refinement. The house was built by Charles H. C. Braxton, grandson of Carter Braxton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It stands next to the site of Carter Braxton's large brick house, which burned in 1775. The district also takes in a surviving smokehouse, a mid-19th-century cemetery, and the reputed site of the 18th-century river landing. The house is described as a typical Federal-period planter's dwelling, akin to Richmond town houses, and the property has stayed with Braxton descendants.