Jessie Ball duPont

Jessie Ball duPont, born Jessie Dew Ball on Ball family property about one mile north of Hughlett Point, was well known for her contributions to this area of Virginia. She was the first teacher at Shiloh School in Northumberland County, and the schoolhouse where she taught, located about two miles north of the preserve, still stands at the intersection of State Routes 605 and 606. After becoming the third wife of Alfred I. duPont in 1921, she made generous financial contributions to area churches and provided college scholarships for promising local students. She also gave to many colleges and universities, particularly Washington & Lee and the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee. An early supporter of historic preservation, she helped restore Ditchley, the Ball family home constructed in 1752, which still stands on property southwest of Dividing Creek, approximately eleven miles from the preserve.

Virginia · United States