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On November 28, 1867, Nathaniel Burwell Cooke of The
Vineyard in Clarke County, Virginia, married Jane Mercer
Winston, daughter of Edmund Winston Woodgrove of Hanover
County. Edmund supervised the erection of Janeway, named for his
daughter, on property partitioned from the western side of
Woodgrove.
Buliding materials were difficult to come by in the years following the Civil War. Janeway was built almost entirely with wood from the surrounding forest, and bricks made from the property's abundant supply of red clay.
Two slave's quarters buildings were brought to Janeway from South Wales, another of Mr. Winston's properties. They were joined together behind the main building to form Janeway's kitchen, which still stands today, held together with wooden pins.
The original house utilized a simple rectangular layout of two
floors over a functional basement. To accommodate a growing
family, Nathaniel and Jane added two rooms on the north side
by 1880. The Cookes farmed Janeway for 47 years. Both died of the influenza of 1918 on the same day.
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Janeway was vacant from 1918 to 1937. The Cooke’s oldest
daughter, Jennie Winston Cooke, and her husband, Heyward
Hunter, chose to remain at the cottage next door. The Hunters
updated the main house in 1937, and finally made it their home.
The east and west wings were added at this time. Jennie’s and
Heyward’s daughter, Anne Middleton Hunter, married Donald
Macdonald in 1935. The couple retired to Janeway and lived
there from 1961 until they both died in 1998.
Recent renovations have produced a comfortable, functionally
modern house that maintains most of the fabric and
ambiance of the earlier house. In this renovation, completed in
2001, a two-story
addition was made to the rear of the
house.
Janeway continues to be owned by descendants of Nathaniel
and Jane Cooke, and is today the residence of Scott and Linda
Macdonald.
Janeway is one of Hanover's 27 Century Farms, farms which have been in operation for at least 100 consecutive years.
Please click on any of the images on this page for a full-sized image.
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Janeway's library |
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Janeway's dining room |
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Janeway's kitchen, made of two slave's quarters buildings brought from another property |
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The interior of Janeway's kitchen |
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A note about historical accuracy: Finding definitive information about the historical sites of Hanover County is a daunting task. If you have reason to suspect any aspect of the histories presented at this website are inaccurate, please email the webmaster and we'll do what we can to get it right. |
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Resource
Hanover County Historical Society Bulletin: Volume I, 1969-1987 Pp60-61
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