About Gay Mont
Historic Architecture, Architecture, Interesting Places, Other Buildings And Structures
Gaymont, or Gay Mont, is a historic home located at Port Royal, Caroline County, Virginia. Originally called "Rose Hill", the central section of the house was built about 1790 by John Hipkins as a two-story frame structure with a gable roof and two exterior end chimneys. His grandson and heir, John Hipkins Bernard, renamed the house in honor of his wife, Jane Gay Bolling Robertson, a descendant of Pocahontas. It was enlarged in 1819 with the addition of flanking one-story stuccoed brick wings and a one-story colonnade of stuccoed brick Tuscan columns. In 1834 a one-story octagonal music room was added and in 1839 an octagonal library and office at the ends of each wing. Except for a brief 18-month change in ownership in 1958–1959, the house remained in the Bernard-Robb family until 2007 at which time it transferred to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. A family cemetery with almost 40 graves is set just to the north of the house along the forest edge.
