Colle

Colle is a Virginia historical marker in Albemarle County, dedicated 2016.

Rte. 53, at entrance to Jefferson Vineyards

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Philip Mazzei, a Tuscan merchant and horticulturist, arrived in Virginia in 1773 and was persuaded by Thomas Jefferson to settle here. Jefferson gave him 193 acres of land, and Mazzei named his property Colle (meaning “hill”). He built a house ca. 1774 and organized a company to produce wine, oil, and silk. Mazzei wrote tracts supporting American independence, and, during the Revolution, served in a militia unit and was Virginia's agent to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. He rented Colle to Hessian prisoner of war Gen. Friedrich Riedesel in 1779. The present French Colonial Revival house, designed by architect William Delano, was completed in 1940 for Stanley Woodward, a prominent diplomat.

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

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1755 · Virginie, Maryland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1776 · Carte nouvelle de l'Amérique Angloise contenant tout ce que les Anglois possédent sur… (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
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 center sheet) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Virginie, Maryland, 1755, covering the location of Colle, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Virginie, Maryland, 1755, 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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The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyThat would be an error, and we can pass it to the program.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

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Marker program managed by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

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