801 East Main Street, Berryville, Virginia 22611; 39.14226 N, 77.96376 W
Directions from Webbtown to Site 4:
• Turn right onto VA-7 W, and drive for 1 mile • Turn left onto VA-7 business (follow signs for Berryville) • Clermont is 0.2 mile up the road on the left. Visitors are to note that Clermont is only open by appointment, and the lane is private. Continue driving without stopping if you have not made an appointment to visit the property. |
Clermont, managed and funded by The Clermont Foundation, is now owned by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. It is a research and training site in agriculture, history, and historic preservation, with the land and buildings as teaching tools. A five-year study of the historic buildings has been completed, as well as research on the history of the site in topic areas including agriculture, architecture, African American life, women’s roles, military history, legal and medical history, and Clermont’s role as a public history site. Clermont includes a restored 1823 log slave quarters along with several other 19th-century outbuildings. In 1870 a plot of land belonging to Ellen McCormick, then owner of Clermont, was purchased by African Americans as the site of Josephine City. The purchaser of the first two lots, Josephine Williams, had possibly been enslaved at Clermont.