Reconstructed bedroom, Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial

What it is

This is a 2016 photograph of a reconstructed bedroom at Red Hill, the home site of Patrick Henry. It shows a canopy bed with teal curtains, a teal painted blanket chest, a wooden armoire, and a rope barrier on brass posts, with wooden plank floors. The room is a later interpretation, not an original object.

Why it matters

Henry lived at Red Hill from 1794 until his death in 1799, with his second wife Dorothea and their children. Other records for the site describe a house that had one first-floor bedroom, which would have been used by Patrick, Dorothea, and the younger children. Because this room is a reconstruction, it shows how curators imagine family life there, not exactly how it looked. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Look closer

• Which objects in the room suggest how people slept and lived there, and which might be modern additions?
• Why might a museum rope off a room and furnish it in these colors?
• What does this room leave out about the other people who lived or worked on the estate?