Fotheringay was the home of George Hancock (1754-1820), a colonel in the Virginia Line during the Revolutionary War and aide-de-camp to Count Casimir Pulaski. He later served in both the Virginia House of Delegates and in the U.S. Congress, and was the father-in-law of explorer William Clark. An elegant expression of the Federal style, Fotheringay was built about 1796 with a steep mountain as a dramatic backdrop. Its interior woodwork, particularly its chimneypieces and doorways, features delicately carved motifs copied from the pattern books of English architect William Pain.