Chatham Walking Tour

Welcome to Chatham. This audio walking tour includes eight stops and covers less than half a mile of ground . To begin the tour, start at the brick patio at the end of the parking lot, marked by four large signs. Beyond the brick wall in front of you is a two-story, brick house known as Chatham. Since its completion in 1771, Chatham’s landscape has evolved over time. The landscape that exists today does not reflect each period of Chatham’s history equally. As you walk the grounds today, think deeply about the features that surround you. What steps should we take to uncover the hidden stories related to Chatham’s past?

Chatham is situated atop a bluff known as Stafford Heights overlooking the Rappahannock River and bordering a geographic boundary known as the Fall Line. The Fall Line marks a change in elevation. To the west, the ground rises gradually, and rivers become rockier and shallower. The land along the Fall Line was first home to Indigenous tribes who lived here for thousands of years. By 1600, the Fall Line marked the boundary between two Indigenous language groups. Algonquian-speaking tribes lived to the east of the Fall Line, while Siouan-speaking tribes lived to the west.

The Rappahannock, an Algonquian-speaking tribe, lived here in the vicinity of Chatham. The tribe’s name referenced the river on which they lived. Translated from Algonquian, Rappahannock means “where the water rises and falls.” This tidal river was a central part of life for the Rappahannock people. When English colonists arrived in present-day Virginia during the early 1600s, the lives of Indigenous people like the Rappahannock were forever changed. As colonists moved west into Virginia, disease and warfare decimated Indigenous populations.

By the 1700s, colonists began settling further west of the Fall Line. Due to increased trade of tobacco and other commodities up and down the Rappahannock River, a port town formed here at the Fall Line. The colonial government chartered the town in 1727, naming it Fredericksburg after Prince Frederick, the oldest son of King George II. Colonists built Fredericksburg on a foundation of enslaved labor. In 1619, British colonists transported the first enslaved Africans to Virginia. Port towns like Fredericksburg became centers of the domestic slave trade.

As Fredericksburg grew, the region also became a key site for agricultural production. In 1742, William Fitzhugh, a wealthy Virginian from nearby King George County, inherited part of his father’s land here along the Rappahannock River. Through his inheritance and marriage to Ann Randolph, another wealthy Virginian, Fitzhugh lived at the top of the social and economic hierarchy of Virginia society. During the 1760s, William Fitzhugh embarked on the construction of a new plantation here opposite the town of Fredericksburg.

The next stop on the tour is the main house. Continue down the brick path, turning right at the first fork in the path. The path will bring you through the garden to a slate patio in front of the house.  

The building in front of you, known as Chatham, is a two-story, Georgian-style, brick house completed around 1771.   The home was once the center of a massive plantation complex. As you look around, think about the features that you would expect to find on a historic plantation. What does this landscape tell us about the people who lived here? At this stop, we will discuss Chatham’s construction and the people, both enslaved and free, who lived here during the 1700s. 

In 1768, William Fitzhugh ventured from his home in nearby King George County to survey his land opposite Fredericksburg, which consisted of more than 1,300 acres. Building his new plantation here on a bluff overlooking the river would afford William Fitzhugh many benefits, both social and economic. Visible from Fredericksburg, his plantation—and wealth—would be hard to ignore. The construction of William Fitzhugh’s plantation began sometime in 1768 and spanned at least three years.

To construct a large plantation required a large labor force. During his ownership of Chatham, William Fitzhugh enslaved upwards of 100 people in order to maintain such an expansive property. Consider the people who built this plantation. While Fitzhugh hired free craftsmen to oversee the project, enslaved people carried out most of the labor. From making thousands of bricks by hand to felling and squaring huge timbers of wood, the process was extremely labor intensive. The development of Chatham Plantation involved clearing the land, constructing the main house and outbuildings, and, finally, cultivating outlying fields for the production of agricultural goods.

The name likely refers to places and people in England, although we cannot say for sure why Fitzhugh chose this particular name. We can say that he followed the example of other wealthy planters in Virginia. By giving their property a distinguishable name, wealthy landowners like William Fitzhugh hoped to express their social and economic status.

Look closely at the main house in front of you. What does it tell us about the people who lived here? The main house is reflective of the large sums of money devoted to its careful design, construction, and upkeep. In many ways, it served as a symbol of power and control. At the time of William Fitzhugh’s ownership of Chatham, roughly thirty outbuildings surrounded the main house. Today, only two of these outbuildings remain: the kitchen and laundry buildings to your left and right. While enslaved people lived in the kitchen and laundry, the majority of Chatham’s enslaved quarters have been lost over time. The loss of spaces inhabited by the people who maintained this plantation is part of a larger story about the relationship between enslaved people and their enslavers.

Would the presence of buildings like enslaved quarters or an overseer’s house change your perception of Chatham if they still existed today? And without these important pieces of Chatham’s past, how do we ensure that the memory of the enslaved people who lived and worked here are not forgotten?  By asking questions like these about Chatham, we can fill in gaps in our understanding of the past.

The next stop is the laundry building, a one-and-a-half-story, brick building to the right of the main house. From the patio, continue to the right and stop in front of the laundry, identified by a small, brown sign.  

This one-and-a-half-story, brick building served as the laundry on the Chatham Plantation. It is one of three original buildings present today, along with the main house and kitchen. Today, the laundry and kitchen buildings serve as office space for the National Park Service. The laundry originally had two rooms, one of which served as a workspace for enslaved people, who laundered clothes for the plantation’s owners. The other was a living space for an enslaved person. Since most of the quarters and workspaces for enslaved people have been lost over  time, this laundry building provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the people who labored here for almost one hundred years. 

From Chatham’s very beginning, enslaved people resisted enslavement. Common forms of resistance carried out by enslaved people included escaping, breaking tools, purposely failing to do work, faking illness, or becoming literate in secrecy. At the same time, a lack of resistance did not suggest that enslaved people were content with their condition. Enslaved people risked severe punishment, sale, or even execution for acting against their enslaver’s expectations. In the winter of 1805, a group of enslaved people organized and carried out a revolt at Chatham. Think about what pushed them to overlook the severe consequences that they could face if the revolt failed. What can we learn about their lives based on their decision to resist?

Ultimately, Chatham’s overseer, joined by a party of men from town, stopped the revolt. During the course of the uprising, two enslaved men and one white resident of Fredericksburg were killed. A Virginia court executed one enslaved man, Abraham, and transported two others, Robin and Cupid, further south. Many questions about this complicated event in Chatham’s history are left unanswered. To learn more about the 1805 Chatham Revolt, explore the article  linked to this tour. As you read, consider how we should remember this event today.

In 1806, William Fitzhugh sold Chatham to Churchill Jones, a plantation owner from nearby Spotsylvania County. The property passed through the Jones family over time. Each subsequent owner continued to rely on enslaved labor to maintain their status. In 1838, Chatham’s fourth owner, John Coalter, died, leaving his wife, Hannah Jones Coalter, a widow and the owner of Chatham. After nearly twenty years as Chatham’s sole owner, Hannah Coalter died in 1857. Her will stated that the 93 people she enslaved at Chatham would be manumitted, or freed. According to Hannah’s will, they had the choice to either travel to free territory or remain enslaved in Virginia. Unbeknownst to Hannah when she penned her will, this decision kickstarted a legal battle over the natural rights of enslaved people.

Hoping to take ownership of Chatham Plantation, Hannah’s half-sister and brother-in-law, Betty and James Horace Lacy, challenged Hannah’s will in court. The Virginia Supreme Court decided in favor of the Lacys, ruling that the manumission was illegal. The basis for the decision was a recent U.S. Supreme Court case, Dred Scott vs. Sanford, which determined that enslaved people were not citizens and therefore had no legal rights. Since Hannah Coalter allowed the enslaved people at Chatham to choose between slavery and freedom, Hannah, according to the court, attempted to provide enslaved people with a legal right. The 93 people who were set to go free remained enslaved at Chatham. The following year, the Lacys purchased Chatham Plantation. How might the enslaved people, whose opportunity for freedom had been taken away, view their new enslavers?

After buying Chatham Plantation, James Horace Lacy decided to send some of the enslaved people to his other   in Virginia and Louisiana, a decision that would tear families apart forever. Ellen Mitchell, an enslaved woman who likely lived and worked here in the laundry, reportedly refused to comply . Lacy sold Ellen to George Aler, a slave trader in Fredericksburg. For unknown reasons, Lacy and Aler made a deal: if Ellen Mitchell could travel north into free territory and raise $1,000 in three months, she could buy her freedom, along with the freedom of her five children and mother.

Ellen journeyed through the North and returned to Fredericksburg with $1,800. After purchasing her family’s freedom, Ellen moved to Ohio, where she bought a home and made a living as a laundress. Ellen Mitchell’s story is one of few related to slavery at Chatham with a positive outcome.  Ellen’s determination and courage secured her freedom. Horace Lacy continued to hold ninety other people in slavery, many of whom were sent to Louisiana.

During the 1850s, slavery became the main political issue in the United States. Heated debates turned into violence. In early 1861, Virginia’s leaders held a secession convention to vote on whether or not the state would leave the Union. James Horace Lacy used his power to call for slavery’s continuance.  Lacy ran to represent Spotsylvania County at the convention but did not win the nomination, partly because many voters viewed his call for war  as overly radical. Voters soon changed their minds when war erupted on April 12, 1861. Five days later, Virginia’s representatives voted to secede from the United States.

The Civil War would decide slavery’s future in the United States. It brought instability to places like Chatham Plantation. Enslaved people looked to war as an opportunity to gain their freedom. They relied on familiar systems of resistance to make their voices heard. 

The next stop on the tour is the musical staircase, overlooking the Rappahannock River and the town of Fredericksburg. Continue to the other side of the house, following the slate path. Stop at the top of the stairs that lead to the riverfront terraces.

Below you, facing the town of Fredericksburg, are Chatham’s riverfront terraces. Today, visitors from around the world come here to learn about Chatham’s history and enjoy this picturesque view. While the view is peaceful now, it was once a scene  of labor and war. At this stop, learn about the outbreak of the Civil War at Chatham. Consider how the war impacted both the Lacy family and the people they enslaved.

Chatham’s terraces are ornamented with staircases, brick walls, statues, and a gravel driveway from the 1920s. This staircase’s iron railing features musical notes to the song “Home, Sweet Home .” The terraces themselves predate the 1920s additions by more than one hundred years. During William Fitzhugh’s ownership of Chatham, enslaved laborers built a terraced yard here along the riverfront. After their completion, enslaved people cultivated a garden on the terraces, which consisted of ornamental trees, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Some of these ornamental trees are still present today.

The terraces below you served as a display of opulence, achieved through the brutality of slavery. When the Civil War began in 1861, the status quo at Chatham Plantation changed in an instant. This space eventually became a launching point for enslaved people seeking their freedom and a burial ground for hundreds of soldiers fighting for change. In a matter of four years, both the physical and social landscape at Chatham changed forever. 

At the war’s beginning, Horace Lacy enlisted in the Confederate Army, serving as an aide to a Confederate general . Shortly after her husband’s departure, Betty Lacy packed up her belongings and children. For the remainder of the war, Betty moved between family homes. The Lacys moved a portion of the enslaved population with them, and left Chatham and the remaining enslaved people under the care of an overseer. With the Lacys absent, the remaining enslaved people at Chatham waited for an opportunity to seek their freedom. That opportunity came in 1862 when the U.S. Army arrived in Fredericksburg.

In April 1862, roughly 30,000 U.S. soldiers, commanded by General Irvin McDowell, moved into Fredericksburg. While in Fredericksburg, General McDowell used Chatham as his headquarters. From here, he directed his soldiers and met with important leaders such as President Abraham Lincoln, who dined here with McDowell in May 1862. When General McDowell set up his headquarters at Chatham, many enslaved people in and around the town of Fredericksburg realized that the Rappahannock River was their only barrier to freedom. Roughly 10,000 enslaved people fled to U.S. lines during the summer occupation of Fredericksburg.

Think about the obstacles that enslaved people faced once they left Fredericksburg. In 1862, wartime emancipation did not equate to the permanent abolition of slavery, nor access to citizenship and civil rights.  For the thousands of enslaved people that left Fredericksburg in 1862, many spent the rest of the war in refugee camps, waiting to see whether the war’s end would make their newly gained freedom permanent. In September, the United States took a major step to transform the war from a fight for reunion into a fight for freedom. President Lincoln released a preliminary version of the Emancipation Proclamation, which announced that all enslaved people living in Confederate-controlled areas would be declared “forever free” on January 1, 1863. As you walk to the next stop of the tour, think about the impact that this news would have on the country. If 10,000 enslaved people sought their freedom after the arrival of the U.S. Army, how many more would do the same after learning about Lincoln’s plans for New Years Day? In early September, the U.S. Army left Fredericksburg, destroying the bridges over the river as they departed. The town’s remaining civilian population, both enslaved and free, awaited what was to come.

The next stop on the tour is the lower terrace. Continue straight down the two sets of staircases in front of you. Stop beside the pontoon bridge display.

During the fall of 1862, President Lincoln juggled his vision for emancipation with his duties as Commander in Chief. In November, Lincoln appointed General Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac. A series of missteps would land Burnside’s army here in Fredericksburg, this time resulting in a battle. For the next few minutes, we will explore Chatham’s role as a military headquarters and field hospital during the Battle of Fredericksburg. As you stand here atop Stafford Heights, observe the topographical features that impacted the battle’s outcome. The heights on which Chatham stands provide a clear view over the Rappahannock River. Think about how an army could make use of high ground during a battle.  

After taking command, Ambrose Burnside planned to move his army through Fredericksburg and on to Richmond. In preparation, Burnside requested supplies from the War Department, including pontoon bridging materials to build over the Rappahannock River. The reconstructed pontoon bridge section here on the lower terrace demonstrates how engineers constructed pontoon bridges at the time of the Civil War. When Burnside’s army reached the north bank of the river in mid-November, the bridging materials he requested were nowhere in sight. A logistical oversight in the War Department meant that the bridges had not even been sent from Washington, D.C. by the time that Burnside’s army was in motion.

In the meantime, General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, received orders to move his army into Fredericksburg and stop Burnside’s advance. By the time that the missing materials reached Burnside’s army in early December, Lee’s army had taken up a defensive position on the ridge outside of the town. Looking out over the river today, you can see an elevated tree line spanning the horizon. The Confederates awaited Burnside’s advance from this key piece of high ground.[

With his original plan in disarray, Burnside decided to cross the river in three places opposite the town and commit to a battle with Lee’s army, a portion of which was positioned in the town itself. As Burnside’s army prepared for battle, Chatham became a military headquarters. During the morning of December 11^th, U.S. soldiers built two pontoon bridges here below Chatham and fought their way into the town on the other side of the river. 

Throughout the day on December 11^th, a team of surgeons tirelessly cared for the battle’s first casualties. Before the battle began, Doctor J. Franklin Dyer received orders to report to Chatham and prepare a field hospital. Volunteer aides, such as Doctor Mary Walker and nurse Clara Barton, arrived on scene to help. Together, they cared for more than three hundred wounded soldiers for almost two weeks.

After failing to push the Confederate Army from their defenses on December 13^th, Ambrose Burnside withdrew his army back across the Rappahannock. The two armies spent the next four months encamped on opposite sides of the river. The winter provided soldiers, and the nation at large, with time to reflect on the year’s events. Regardless of the defeat that Burnside’s army faced here, President Lincoln stuck to his plan for New Year’s Day. The year 1863 began with the United States’ promise to free four million enslaved people. At Chatham, reminders of the previous year’s events could be found at every turn.

The next stop on the tour is the grave of a U.S. soldier buried here during the Battle of Fredericksburg. Return up one flight of stairs to the middle terrace. Turn right, following the gravel driveway. Walk through the opening in the brick wall and face the river. Stop in front of the slate grave marker located at the corner of the brick wall.

The grave in front of you, marked with a slate stone, belongs to an unknown U.S. soldier who died during the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862. At this stop, learn about the ways that war reshaped Chatham’s landscape. What steps did our nation take to recover and rebuild?  Discover what life was like at Chatham during the first decade after the Civil War.

Despite the efforts of Doctor Dyer’s team of surgeons and aides, over one hundred U.S. soldiers treated at Chatham’s field hospital did not survive their wounds. These soldiers were buried here on the terraces in December 1862. After the war, the U.S. Burial Corps traveled through the area and  reinterred the remains of U.S. soldiers to the Fredericksburg National Cemetery. However, the Burial Corps did not locate every grave on the battlefield. Three soldiers’ graves remain on the grounds today, including the grave here in front of you. The two other graves are located to the left and right, hidden from view by the tree lines on each side.

Wartime burials were among the list of changes that Betty Lacy noted when her family returned to Chatham in 1865. According to Betty, the grounds were a “wilderness of weeds,” and the main house was in disarray. While Chatham Plantation did suffer damage from its wartime use, the property fared much better than homes and businesses on the other side of the river. Despite Betty’s complaints, the Lacys retained enough of their wealth to pay for Chatham’s repair.

The most notable change at Chatham in the postwar period was the end of slavery. Two formerly enslaved families, the Grays and the Armsteads, continued to live and work at Chatham in the war’s aftermath. Whereas the Lacys retained their wealth and status, formerly enslaved people at Chatham struggled to gain independence and security in the postwar South. The 13th Amendment did not provide Black Americans with access to suffrage, property rights, or equal protection under the law. In many ways, life at Chatham continued to be defined by a struggle for equality, even after the abolition of slavery.

During the 1870s, Horace Lacy revamped his goals for a political career, giving speeches at local events and eventually running for office himself.  He also provided support for local politicians who voted against equal rights for Black Americans. In 1874, Lacy ran for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. A local newspaper referred to him as the “White man’s candidate” and encouraged supporters of white supremacy to vote for him. Lacy won the election and served one term in the state government. During his short-lived political career, Lacy used his influence and wealth to keep Black Americans second-class citizens.

Horace Lacy did not only direct his energy toward state politics. Alongside his wife, he became involved in local initiatives to memorialize the Confederacy. Betty served as the vice president of the Ladies’ Memorial Association of Fredericksburg and helped create two Confederate cemeteries in the area. Horace traveled across the country raising money for the organization. Through these efforts, the Lacys contributed to the creation of the Lost Cause narrative, an interpretation of the Civil War created by former Confederates that denies slavery as the war’s cause and celebrates the Confederacy’s ideals.

In 1872, the Lacys sold Chatham and moved to Ellwood, their home in nearby Orange County. During the Lacy family’s final years at Chatham, they struggled to maintain the lifestyle familiar to them before the Civil War. Using their influence and wealth, they sought to limit the rights of newly freed people and keep the memory of the Confederacy alive. Continue to the garden to learn about how Chatham’s physical and social landscape continued to evolve after the Lacys’ departure.  

The next stop on the tour is the is the Chatham garden. Facing toward the main house, continue straight through the gate to your front. After entering through the gate, turn left at the first opening in the brick wall to enter the garden. Once in the garden, follow the slate path toward the main house and stop in front of the ramp.   

Today, the walled garden in which you now stand is one of Chatham’s most popular features. This garden did not exist during Chatham’s time as a working plantation. Prior to the garden’s creation in the 1920s, an oval-shaped carriage path existed in its place. Chatham’s landscape changed dramatically during the 1900s as wealthy owners modified the house and grounds. At this stop, learn about the features that surround you today. What important events in our nation’s history unfolded at the time of the garden’s creation?

Between 1872 and 1920, Chatham changed hands seven times. During that period, various owners sold off outlying land, reducing the property to thirty acres. Chatham remained in the hands of wealthy families throughout its history. During the early 1900s, the home’s owners installed modern amenities such as plumbing and electricity, and ornamented the riverfront terraces with tennis courts and elaborate gardens. Think about how onlookers viewed Chatham throughout this period of change. What do you think Chatham’s owners hope to convey to others by beautifying its landscape?

This process of beautifying and modernizing Chatham continued on a much larger scale during the 1920s. In 1920, Helen and Daniel Devore, a wealthy couple from Washington, D.C., purchased Chatham and embarked on a project to renovate the property in the Colonial Revival style, an architectural style that arose during the Colonial Revival Movement. The movement’s supporters, mostly wealthy, white Americans, celebrated an idealized version of America’s colonial past through architecture, art, and historic preservation. It emerged during a time of great change in the United States. Rising immigration rates and isolationism contributed to its popularity. At Chatham, the Devores sought to restore the property to its original appearance. Yet, the changes they made were based on a romanticized version of Chatham’s colonial history.

The Devores hired a team of architects, builders, interior designers, and gardeners to renovate the buildings and grounds. Their lead architect, Oliver Clarke, designed the stone entryways that surround the doors today. These entryways replaced the porches present during the Civil War. Other 1920s additions include the statues, terrace walls, and riverside driveway. They also hired renowned landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman— one of the first women to break into the field—to design the walled garden. Think about how these 1920s additions affect your perception of Chatham. When you first walked through the garden, did you realize that it was not built until the 1920s? Think back to what you learned about Chatham’s colonial history at earlier stops. What aspects of that story did the Devores overlook?  

To maintain such an elaborate estate, the Devores relied on a team of farm hands, domestic servants, cooks, and gardeners. According to a resident of Chatham during the 1920s, the Devores hired White employees to operate the farm and maintain the grounds, and Black employees to work in the main house. Throughout the South, Jim Crow laws did not only impact people of color in public spaces, but also carried over into domestic life. The Devores added this side entrance, accessed by a ramp today, possibly to provide domestic servants with access to their workspaces without entering through the main entrance on the opposite side of the house. They also added and renovated spaces inside of the house for domestic servants, such as a butler’s pantry, basement kitchen, and basement bathroom. As with earlier periods in Chatham’s history, the main house’s occupants continued to rely on the labor of others  with fewer rights and privileges to maintain their lifestyle.

The additions made by the Devores impact the way we view this historic landscape today. By taking a closer look at this pivotal time in Chatham’s history, we can better understand broader trends prevalent in American society at the time, such as Colonial Revivalism, economic growth, and racial segregation. The next time you visit a historic site like Chatham, ask yourself questions about the features around you.  

The last stop on the tour is the Diana statue. Continue through the garden and follow the center path back towards the parking lot. Stop in front of the Diana statue outside of the garden wall.

This statue in front of you, which depicts the Roman goddess Diana, is one of many created for Helen and Daniel Devore during their renovation of Chatham. During wsinter months, the statue is covered to prevent the terracotta from cracking. The Diana statue is representative of the changes brought to Chatham during the 1920s, as well as future preservation efforts that have helped make Chatham available to the public today. At this stop, learn about Chatham’s final private owners and the steps they took to ensure that Chatham would be protected for future generations.

Despite the time and expense that the Devores devoted to Chatham, they only lived here for ten years. In 1931, they sold Chatham to industrialist, John Lee Pratt, and his wife, Lillian. John Pratt, the vice president of General Motors, grew up nearby in King George County. Similar to the Devores, the Pratts relied on farm hands, gardeners, and domestic servants to take care of the property. Many major events in American history unfolded during the Pratts’ ownership of Chatham, including the Great Depression and the Second World War.

During their ownership of Chatham, John and Lillian Pratt generously devoted their wealth to charitable causes, donating large sums of money to medicine, agriculture, the humanities, and public education. After Lillian’s death in 1947, John donated her vast art collection, along with this Diana statue, to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts  in Richmond. By the time of John Pratt’s death in 1975, he had already prepared for Chatham’s future. Pratt willed the historic property to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park with the wish that it would be opened for public enjoyment. Today, the Pratts’ legacy lives on through the many projects that they funded during their lifetime.

After two years of preservation work, the National Park Service opened Chatham to the public in 1977. Early interpretation of the site focused on Chatham’s owners and its connection to the Civil War. The park gave less attention to the stories of enslaved people and other periods of Chatham’s history. Think about how this approach affected visitors’ understanding of Chatham’s importance. During the 1980s, the National Park Service expanded its telling of Chatham’s history by restoring the walled garden. Since then, park employees and volunteers have devoted years of research to uncover Chatham’s full story.

Uncovering more information about Chatham is a team effort. Over time, community members and descendants of people who once lived and worked here have generously shared their knowledge with the park to better our collective understanding of Chatham’s history. In 2012, the National Park Service formed a partnership with the Friends of Chatham, a nonprofit organization created by community members to assist park staff in caring for Chatham. Each week, the Friends of Chatham volunteer their time caring for the garden. They also raise funds for preservation efforts, such as the restoration of the historic greenhouses and the restoration of this Diana statue, which returned to Chatham in 2019.

Today, the National Park Service continues to recognize the importance of learning from its visitors, stakeholders, and neighbors. What aspects of Chatham’s story and landscape resonate most with you? What changes would you like to see implemented? Our nation’s cultural resources belong to all of us. It is up to us, as a nation, to make sense of Chatham’s complicated past and to ensure that the stories of those who lived and worked here are not forgotten.