Charlotte County Free Library

Fittingly enough, the first of eleven libraries donated to rural Virginia counties by ambassador David K. E. Bruce was in Charlotte, where he lived during part of the year at his family home, Staunton Hill (CT18). All except the Charlotte library are Colonial Revival structures modeled on the Williamsburg restoration of eighteenth-century buildings. Unlike the others, Charlotte's library is a remodeled Federal brick building. Across the street from the court buildings, it served first as the law office of Judge Hunter Marshall (one-story wing) and later as the office and house (two-bay, two-story section) of a county judge. In addition to endowing the library with “a basic collection of well chosen books,” Bruce also established a formal garden, with a summerhouse and a storage building in the rear. These were designed to appear as if they might have been original service buildings to the main house.