Bassett Hall, View From Gate

View of Bassett Hall from the front gate, 1935.  "The Bray family owned the Bassett Hall property from the early seventeenth century until 1753 when it was transferred to Colonel Philip Johnson, husband of Elizabeth Bray.  Johnson probably built the present house soon after."  John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, purchased Bassett Hall in 1927.  After a series of renovations, they resided in the house on a seasonal basis (especially in spring and fall) during the 1930s and 1940s.

(Source: Michael Olmert and Suzanne Coffman, Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg [Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2007], 147).