Fireplace Mantel and Cornice Moulding

This fireplace mantel and cornice moulding are from Menokin Plantation, home of Declaration of Independence signer Francis Lightfoot Lee and National Historic Landmark. Located in Richmond County, Virginia, Menokin was built of local materials such as sandstone. Although the house has fallen into disrepair, most of its interior architectural elements have survived. Unfortunately, the names of the architect and the free and enslaved craftspeople who created the house have been lost to time. This mantel, made of yellow pine and tulip poplar, includes dentil molding and would have been one of five mantels in the house. While Francis Lightfoot Lee signed his name to the Declaration of Independence that proclaimed that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” he held 200 enslaved people in bondage.