McLean House at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

The McLean House at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park was built in 1848 by Charles Raine and originally served as a tavern. Wilmer McLean purchased it in 1863, and it was he and his family who lived in the house when the war came to town. Once the Confederates surrendered, an aide of General Robert E. Lee’s came searching for a suitable place for Lee and Union general Ulysses S. Grant to meet and sign surrender documents. McLean, who was one of the few white men who stayed in town during the battle, was approached and asked for his opinion. His first suggestion, the abandoned and unfurnished Raine Tavern, was not accepted, so he offered his own house for the meeting.

Back of the McLean House at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

The house standing today is not the original McLean House but a reconstruction using some of the original materials. The McLean’s left Appomattox Court House in 1867 and defaulted on the mortgage. The house was therefore sold at auction in 1869 and purchased by John Pascoe, who then rented it to the Ragland Family. Nathaniel Ragland eventually bought the property in 1872. His widow sold it to Captain Myron Dunlap in 1891.

Dunlap planned to dismantle the house and transport it to Chicago, Illinois, where it would be reassembled for the 1893 World’s Exposition. However, work did not move along fast enough to make the deadline, so he then decided to move it to Washington, D. C., and turn it into a Civil War museum. This plan didn’t work out either, but he did manage to disassemble the house before running out of money. For the next 50 years, the materials sat unprotected outdoors at Appomattox Court House. Bricks were taken by souvenir hunters and the wooden materials rotted away.

When Appomattox Court House National Historical Park was created in 1940, one of the first plans of action was to reconstruct the McLean House using the materials that remained, which amounted to roughly 5,500 original bricks. The foundation and fireplace hearth still existed, so the house’s original location was known. There were plenty of photos of the house from before it was disassembled, and detailed instructions were made for reassembling it.

Unfortunately, World War II started and the project was put on hold. It wasn’t until 1947 when work resumed, and the reconstruction was completed in time for a grand opening on April 9, 1949. Most of the original bricks were used on the front wall around the entrance door.

Visitors are welcome to come inside the McLean House and take a look at four rooms: the parlor, dining room, bedroom, and kitchen. A park Ranger is typically on duty to answer any questions.

The parlor is where the surrender meeting between Lee and Grant took place. Afterwards, those attending stripped almost everything in the room for keepsakes of the historic moment. Whether the items were paid for is debatable. Some witnesses claim that McLean actively sold everything, and some say the officers offered payment. The McLean Family’s position is that everything was taken without permission.

In the room today are reproductions of the chairs and desks used by the two generals. The originals still exist. The chairs and the table Grant used are in the Smithsonian Museum (though the ones on display even there are reproductions), and Lee’s marble-topped table is in the Chicago History Museum. The only original McLean items now in the house are the two vases on the mantle, a horsehair sofa, and the two candlesticks on Lee’s table, which are on loan from the Senate House Museum in New York.

Reproductions of the table and chair used by General Ulysses S. Grant when signing surrender papers inside the parlor of the McLean House, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

Reproductions of the table and chair used by General Robert E. Lee when signing surrender papers inside the parlor of the McLean House, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

The furniture in the house is period reproductions and antiques typical of the time period. In fact, nobody knows for sure how these rooms were decorated. The parlor décor is based on a lithograph print commissioned by McLean in 1867.

McLean House dining room, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

McLean House kitchen, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

McLean House bedroom, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

Also on the McLean property are a slave quarters, kitchen, and an ice house. All were originally built in 1848 at the same time as the house, though the buildings standing today are reconstructions done in 1965. The slave quarters, the two-room building with a fireplace in the middle, is now furnished as a slave quarters might have been in the 1850s. You can’t go inside the building, but you can look in through the gated doorways.

Slave quarters at the McLean House, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

Interior of the McLean House slave quarters at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

Interior of the McLean House slave quarters at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

The kitchen is also a two-room building, with one room now furnished as a kitchen and the other housing exhibits. The kitchen would have been manned by an enslaved cook, and typically the cook and family lived nearby or in the building. There is an upstairs bedroom, though this is not open to the public or furnished.

McLean House kitchen (left) and slave quarters (right) at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

Interior of the McLean House kitchen at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

Interior of the McLean House kitchen at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

The exhibits in the kitchen building consist of photos of the before and after restorations of various buildings in the park, information on slavery at Appomattox Court House, and details about the post-war lives of some of the town’s former slaves. It takes about ten minutes to read all the information.

Exhibit on slavery inside the McLean House kitchen at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

Like the McLean House itself, the adjacent ice house was also reconstructed on its original location. There is nothing inside.

Ice house next to the McLean House at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

Back to the Top