Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

Tradition tells that this small brick building in the exercise yard of the Eastern State Hospital was the kitchen of the home of Daniel Parke Custis, who had inherited it from his father, Colonel John Custis, in 1749. Mrs. Martha Custis, the widow of Daniel Parke Custis, later married General George Washington, who adopted her son, John Parke Custis. [Tyler, Williamsburg, p. 248; Lee, Mrs. Victoria, Williamsburg in 1861, p. 67; Charles, John, Recollections of Williamsburg, p. 25.]

In 1724 John Custis, in writing of a storm in Williamsburg, described his residence (which may have been the one on this property):

…Wee had such a violent flood of rain, and prodigious gust of wind that ye like I do believe never happened since ye universall deluge I myself have as strong and as high a house as any in ye Governt; stands on high ground; and I do affirm it that I was obliged to put on a pair of whold boots to walk from one room to ye other to my house hold goods on ye Lee side of ye house.
[John Custis, Letter Book 1717-1741, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress]

Two advertisements in the Virginia Gazette in 1773 indicate that the property had passed into other hands at that time, and was being rented for commercial purposes:

PETER HARDY,
BEGS leave to inform the public that he has opened shop in the BRICK HOUSE commonly called CUSTIS'S, near the HOSPITAL, WILLIAMSBURG, where he proposes to repair COACHES, LANDEAUS, CHARIOTS, and all other sorts of CARRIAGES, in the neatest manner, also PAINTING, GILDING, JAPANING, and CARVING, done with the greatest elegance

PETER HARDY, Coach and Chair Maker Begs Leave to inform the Publick he has opened Shop at the Brick House belonging to Colonel Custis's Estate, near the Mad House, where he intends to carry on his Business in its various Branches, in the most elegant and best finished Taste, -2- particular Care being had to the Goodness of the work as well as the ornamental Part, via. Carving, Guilding, Painting, and Japaning, all which different Branches endeavoured to obtain them by a long course of Practice these several Years in Europe, and has the Pleasure to say he has given Satisfaction to all Gentlemen who have been pleased to honour him with their Custom in this Country. Also ELECTRICAL MACHINES of all Sorts, with Directions how to use them
[Virginia Gazette, Purdie and Dixon, Eds., August 19, 1773]

Tradition relates that in later years this property was referred to as "the six chimney lot," because of the fact that six chimneys once stood there, the building to which they belonged having been destroyed by fire. [Tyler, Williamsburg, p. 248]

An aged resident of Williamsburg, writing of this property, about the third decade of the twentieth century, said that in 1861:

Martha Washington's Kitchen, though weathered and worn by the passing years, looked then as it does now. It was used as a store house for the Asylum garden tools.
[Lee, Mrs. Victoria, Williamsburg in 1861, p. 67]

Another aged citizen, writing about the same time and describing this property at the period of the Civil War, said:

this lot, known as the Six Chimney Lot with a little brick house near the center of it, still standing, and said to have been Martha Washington's kitchen, was surrounded on all sides by holly and cedar trees, which in winter were filled with berries that attracted vast flocks of robins and other birds that furnished rare sport to the pot-hunters of that day.
[Charles, John S., Recollections of Williamsburg, p. 25]

REFERENCES TO THE CUSTIS SQUARE PROPERTY

[1824]

"The old Raleigh Tavern, with the bust of that great man elevated on its front, as a sign of its location, alternately the scene of the greatest legislative consultations and of collegiate frolics, could not be viewed without emotion; much less could the house (built in 1714, as appears from the inscription on it..) where General Washington received the hand of his bride. It is now almost in ruins."

source: Ward, Robert D., An Account of General La Fayette's Visit to Virginia.
Richmond, 1881, p. 15.
Quoted in file, "Williamsburg Descriptions and Travel," Research Dept/. CWI.