Patrick Henry's Home, Red Hill & Lunch in Brookneal

This morning we drove 19 miles south through the town of Brookneal to go to Red Hill - The Patrick Henry National Memorial. We drove east on Patrick Henry Road and saw a sign directing us onto Red Hill Road.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

A little further on we saw another sign for Red Hill

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

and kept driving on the narrow 2-lane Red Hill Road.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

We passed by the Patrick Henry Boys & Girls Homes.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

We arrived at Red Hill at 11:00 and parked the car. We saw signs for the Quarter Place Trailhead and walked down it to the reconstructed log cabin.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

The Quarter Place Trail continues on further to some cabin foundations, a tobacco curing barn and an African-American cemetery. It was already getting hot and we just went as far as the log cabin and then walked over to
the Visitor Center.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

The adult ticket costs $6 and there are different discounts and we used our military ID cards and paid $4 each. We looked through the Museum Room that has the world's largest collection of Patrick Henry artifacts. We were given a brief history of Red Hill by the young lady working in the Gift Shop before watching a 15 minute movie about the life of Patrick Henry.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry was born in Hanover County in 1736. In 1775 he gave his "Liberty or Death" speech in Richmond. He served several terms as Virginia Governor and later opposed the Constitution because it didn't contain a bill of rights. Because of the arguments of Patrick Henry and others for a bill of rights, James Madison composed our Bill of Rights which became the first 10 amendments to our Constitution.

After watching the movie, we walked outside and walked down a path to Patrick Henry's Law Office. He used this office after his retirement in 1793 to Red Hill.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

We next walked over to the giant Osage Orange Tree in front of Patrick Henry's home. The tree is estimated to be 300 years old and there are heavy cables holding up some of the low hanging branches.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

We stopped by the outdoor kitchen

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

and then went into the slave cabin of Harrison and Molly. Harrison was the coachman and Molly the cook for the Henry family.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

We walked over to the Henry Family Graveyard to view Patrick and Dorothea's graves. Patrick Henry died in 1799 from an intestinal blockage and his doctor administered a dose of liquid mercury (the accepted medical practice then) in a desperate hope that the weight of the metal would clear the blockage - which it didn't.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

We then walked back over to the Patrick Henry house which has been recreated to reflect the house when Patrick and Dorothea lived there in his retirement.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

We walked out on the grounds south of the house to where Patrick Henry had had a lookout tower where he would stand and give orders and directions to his servants working in the fields.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

We walked back to the Visitor Center to do some souvenir shopping and the air conditioning felt great. The temp outside was in the upper 80's, but felt like the 90's. We stopped one last time to take a photo of the Commonwealth Courtyard with a bust of Patrick Henry and the American flag, Virginia flag, Grand Union flag and flags from the seven states that were created out of Virginia.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

By now it was lunch time and we decided to stop in Brookneal and look for a place to eat.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

We decided to eat lunch at the Drug Store Grill and parked the car on a side street next to the Grill.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

Nan was our waitress and we ordered the Reuben with FF and the French Dip with onion rings. Mike and I split the sandwiches, FF and onion rings and everything was very good.

Nan told us that the Drug Store Grill had actually been a drug store and that when the store was renovated the original tin ceiling was uncovered.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

There is a sports bar upstairs and that space had actually been a dentist's office. After lunch Mike went upstairs and took some photos.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

We said goodbye to Amanda and Nan

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

and then stopped by the Food Lion in Brookneal to get sandwich meat before driving back to the campground.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

On the drive back we passed by this older motorhome that looks like it's still being used.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry