Tappahannock Seminary on the Rappahannock River records(1818–1860)

• MS 2002.11
• 3 items

Consists of two pages of “Regulations to be Observed by the Pupils of the Tappahannock Female Seminary,” by the principal Lucy Wellford Gray; a Register of Pupils from 1818–1860, containing the names of more than seven hundred male and female students; and a carte-de-visite of Lucy Wellford Gray.

The Tappahannock Seminary was started by Lucy Wellford Gray in 1818. It included over seven hundred girls and boys during its history. The school taught reading, writing, figuring, domestic arts, music, drawing, and manners, and was well-respected and highly patronized. It closed in 1860 with the death of Lucy Wellford Gray. Lucy Yates Wellford Gray (1781–1860) was the daughter of Dr. Robert Wellford, of Fredericksburg, Virginia. In 1808, she married Dr. Thomas Branch Willson Gray (1784–1818) and had four children, with only two surviving into adulthood. Soon after her husband’s death, Mrs. Lucy Gray opened a seminary for girls (later included some male students) in her home on Prince Street in Tappahannock, Virginia. She also started a school in Petersburg, Virginia, in 1836. She was a woman of excellent education and high intellect and was active in Tappahannock’s Presbyterian church.

• View Virginia Heritage Project finding aid