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Keswick Vineyards is located at the historic 400-acre
Edgewood Estate in Keswick, Virginia. The land was part
of the original 1727 Nicholas Meriwether Crown Grant that
comprised nearly 18,000 acres on the east side of the
Southwest Mountains. George Barclay Rives, a direct descendent
of the original grantee, built the current residence in
1911. He served in the U.S. embassies in Germany, Austria
and Brazil, negotiated exchanges of prisoners of war during
World War I, and was decorated by the French, English
and German governments.
The property was the site of two important historical events, one during the Revolutionary War and the other during the Civil War. On June 4, 1781 Captain Jack Jouett rode 40 miles through the night from Cuckoo Tavern in Louisa County to Charlottesville to warn then Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia Legislature of the approach of the British troops.
Jefferson and the legislators had left Richmond because of British General Benedict Arnold's raids. British Colonel Banastre Tarleton had been ordered to follow them. Eager to capture the Americans, Tarleton covered the last seventy miles in twenty-four hours. When twenty-seven year old Jack Jouett spotted the troops in Louisa County, he immediately left at 10 o'clock at night, choosing hilly terrain rather than the main highway for his route to Charlottesville.
 Tarleton's troops arrived at Castle Hill, the original tract of land to which Edgewood Estate belonged, just after dawn on June 4, 1781. Legend has it that Dr. Thomas Walker, the owner of Castle Hill, convinced Tarleton and his troops to stay for breakfast, thus delaying their march to Charlottesville. It is likely that Tarleton stayed longer than the half-hour he later claimed, because by the time the troops reached Monticello and Charlottesville, Jefferson and the legislature had escaped.
Almost one hundred years later, Edgewood Estate became the stopping point during another American War. Confederate General James A. Longstreet was ordered to move his troops from East Tennessee on April 7, 1864 to Charlottesville to prepare for the Battle of the Wilderness. Because the railroads could only transport 1500 men a day, the troops were slow to reach Albemarle County. The Confederates detrained at Charlottesville and were then marched to various camp sites, including Edgewood Estate.
In addition to infantry, artillery units were also present. Horse-drawn wagons carried personal baggage, provisions, ammunition and other equipment and supplies to the camp sites. Historians believe that just days before the movement toward the Wilderness, Longstreet's men were reviewed by General Robert E. Lee. William C. Rives, the owner of Edgewood during the Civil War, received $423.33 for compensation for damage to his land and trees cut for fuel by the troops.
When the Schornbergs learned of the property's connection with Longstreet's troops, they arranged for Civil War historian William Leigh of Hamilton, Virginia to conduct a metal detector search of the cleared land and wooded areas. During the 1960s the area's history was uncovered by Civil War relic hunters who found discarded camp equipment, dropped bullets, uniform buttons, and personal items including mechanical pencils and belt buckles. Approximately 10,000 Confederate troops camped throughout the woods and open land along Louisa Road, from the vicinity of the Edgewood tract eastward to the intersection of Route 15.
In more recent years, Edgewood Estate has been the home of singer-songwriter Art Garfunkel and movie director Hugh Wilson. Today Edgewood Estate finds itself home to one of Virginia's most promising agricultural industries — viticulture.
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