For Historical Interest
Although Clover Fields remained in the original family, one of its residents and member of the Albemarle Board of Supervisor's Advisory Board for Preservation, Sara Lee Barnes, interest in the property stemmed from her interest in historic structures. Likewise, University of Virginia Professor in the Architecture School Michael Bednar had no relation to Lewis or Clark, but has refurbished and created a web site about his home The Farm.
Clover Fields has remained in the original family's hands and continues to function as working plantation. After the Civil War, the family turned the site into a boarding house, which remained open until the 1970s. After the 1970s, the family rented out suites of rooms in the big house with family members living either in the big house or the smaller dwellings on the property. The farm remained a working plantation and one of the resident's and relative of Thomas Jefferson, Sara Lee Barnes credited the previous generations ability to hold on, use, and help the smaller structures evolve. Residents still use the smaller structures such as the smokehouse/dairy and kitchen for storage. The smokehouse/dairy dated back at least until 1803 and when the original kitchen burned down, the present kitchen was built around the chimney that survived (Barnes, 2002).
Barnes credited the last four generations for keeping the property in the family. The women of the family have inherited the property for the last four generations and have maintained it and have what Barnes called an "attachment to the land (Barnes, 2002)" from growing up with and learning the history of the grounds and area. Barnes credited both this attachment to the land and the continued use of the grounds for the family's interest in both continuing to hold on to and preserve the plantation (Barnes, 2002).
Barnes did not grow up on Clover Fields, but visited often. She lived in North Carolina for ten years before she returned to Clover Fields in 1988. In North Carolina, Barnes worked in a museum focused on the decorative arts. There was not a large focus on decorative arts in the Charlottesville area when she returned, so she became interested in architecture and eventually preservation. Barnes credited her interest in these homes as having little to do with the Lewis and Clark connection because few people in the area cared about Lewis and Clark before Jane Henley arrived. (Barnes, 2002).
Bednar acquired The Farm in the 1980s. During his time at the house, Bednar has tried to restore the structure. Because of his interest in the property and architecture, Bednar created a website to showcase the house, summarize its history, as well as show pictures from the work he has done on the building (Bednar, 2002).
