Wigwam (Chula, Virginia)

The Wigwam is a landmark home, of cape cod style, built in 1790, close to the Appomattox River near Lodore on Rt. 637, in Amelia County, Virginia. Virginia Governor William Branch Giles (1762-1830) built the house and made it his home until his death.

The original building included only the back section, with the more formal front being added around 1820. There is some information that the front section was originally relocated from the John Royall estate, called Caxamelalea. Apparently experts from Williamsburg have refuted this based upon their inspection of the house. It has 18 rooms. The house at one time had 5 full baths. There are 4 chimneys that serve 13 fireplaces. There are 65 windows, 17 of which are dormers. One room in the basement appears to have been used to hold yankee prisoners in the War Between the States, including a barred window and evidence of shackles on the wall.

In 1832, Giles' son conveyed the Wigwam to William Henry Harrison (cousin of the president by that name.) Harrison, with his wife Lucy (née Powers), raised six children to adulthood there, and as well established in the home a school for boys, named Amelia Academy. The christian school was run principally to prepare its students for entrance to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The school's 1859-1860 flyer indicated a census of 25 pupils, and the school's board members included John Hartwell Cocke.

William Henry in his final years running the school was assisted by his eldest son, J. Hartwell Harrison who later phased out the school and made the Wigwam his home with wife Anna (née Carrington) and their six children. After his return from the Civil War, Hartwell farmed the property and became the area's local Baptist minister. The devastating effects of the Long Depression ultimately resulted in a mortgage default in 1896 and the family's eviction from the home by Hartwell's brother-in-law Lewis Harvie Blair. In the mid 1900's the property was owned and renovated by Hartwell's son Robert N. Harrison.

The Wigwam was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. Most recently, the property was acquired and substantially renovated in the 1990's by Walter Cart.