Henry Clay's Birthplace

Henry Clay's Birthplace is a Virginia historical marker in Hanover County, dedicated 2017.

Rte. 301/2, about 50 feet north of intersection with Route 654

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Henry Clay was born on 12 Apr. 1777 about two miles northwest of here. His family's house, built in the mid-18th century, burned in 1870. Clay studied law in Richmond and moved to Kentucky in 1797. During half a century in public life, he served as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senator, and Secretary of State. He championed the American System, a plan for national economic development, and negotiated the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 in an attempt to defuse conflict between North and South. Clay, a three-time candidate for the presidency of the United States and a leader of the Whig Party, died in 1852 and is buried in Lexington, Kentucky.

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1755 · Virginie, Maryland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1778 · Il Maryland, il Jersey Meridionale, la Delaware. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1781 · MARCH of the ARMY under Lieut:t General EARL CORNWALLIS in VIRGINIA, from the JUNCTION at… (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1794 · Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1807 · Map Of Virginia (lower right sheet) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Il Maryland, il Jersey Meridionale, la Delaware, 1778, covering the location of Henry Clay's Birthplace, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Il Maryland, il Jersey Meridionale, la Delaware, 1778, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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Henry Clay's Birthplace

Historical maps covering this location

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