Cleve

By 1762, Charles Carter had planted 1,800-vines at Cleve from two grape varieties and he sent a case of his samples to the Royal Society of Arts in London. Both were approved as "good wines” and Carter was awarded a gold medal as the first person to make a, “spirited attempt towards the accomplishment of their views, respecting wine in America.”

The house itself was gutted by a fire in 1800 while it was home to Carter's younger son, Landon Thornton Carter. In 1852, after the death of his son, St. Leger, the estate was sold to Henry Byrd Lewis, a nephew of St. Leger's brother-in-law, John Lewis (nephew of George Washington). As a testament to its original construction, Henry Lewis was able to retain the existing walls and brickwork and he rebuilt the house with a new, albeit less conspicuous roof. His grandson, John Armistead Lewis, was living here in 1915 when a second fire put the house to ruins again and it was demolished two years later in 1917. However, as a reminder of what was lost, the east elevation of Fairfield bares a very close resemblance to how the front of Cleve might've looked if still standing today.