Charles Johnston? Sandusky?
Isn't that in Ohio?
No! It's in Lynchburg, VA.

Charles Johnston is responsible for this Lynchburg, Virginia landmark. Johnston's story and that of his estate, Sandusky, both have a fascinating history. Located just south of Lynchburg on a 1200 acre plantation, the handsome Sandusky house was built about 1808.

We pick up the story of Charles Johnston with his father who immigrated from Scotland to Prince Edward County, Virginia in 1750. Charles, the younger of three sons, was born in 1769. As a teenager, Charles became a clerk for a land explorer of the Kentucky and Ohio wilderness areas inhabited by Shawnee and Cherokee Indians.

March 20, 1790 wasn't a good day for Charles Johnston. He and five companions were floating down the Ohio River in a flat bottomed boat, hoping to reach Kentucky. They were tricked into coming ashore to help two men who claimed to have escaped from Indians. To their dismay, it was a ruse and Johnston and his companions ended up as Shawnee captives.

Enduring five weeks of terror, during which two of his companions were killed, Charles was taken to Sandusky village on Lake Erie.

It was there that Johnston was able to persuade a French-Canadian fur trader named Duchouquet to buy his freedom from his Shawnee captors. His value to the Shawnee was "600 silver brooches and some other goods". It happened to be his twenty-first birthday, April 28, 1790; quite a birthday present.

Charles Johnston then traveled with his fur-trader benefactor to Detroit and then to New York where he was questioned by President George Washington about his terrifying adventure. Washington had more than a passing interest in what the post-revolutionary British and French were doing in the wilderness area.

In 1793 he received an appointment to go to France on a mission for the U.S. Government. While there he developed a friendship with Marquis de Lafayette who later visited the Johnston home in Botetourt County in 1824.

In 1827 Charles Johnston penned a book simply titled, "Johnston's Frontier Adventure", to chronicle his capture, captivity, detention and ransom.

The house was built by Charles Johnston in 1808 and named Sandusky to commemorate his escape. He lived there until 1818 when he sold it and moved to Botetourt County, Virginia. It is a fine example of Federal style architecture of the period.

Johnston was a friend and neighbor of Thomas Jefferson whose Poplar Forest plantation retreat was nearby.

Jefferson was known to have been a dinner guest at Sandusky in 1817.

The property changed hands several times until the estate and 700 acres was purchased in 1841 by Major George C. Hutter of the U.S. Army.

Hutter retired there just as the civil war was beginning in 1861 and the plantation stayed in the Hutter family for the next five generations.

On June 17th, 1864, he received an uninvited comrade-at-arms, Union General David Hunter and his army, who sat up their headquarters at Sandusky. Two future presidents, Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley were staff officers of General Hunter.

Photo right: Historic Sandusky today

Sandusky was thus visited by three U.S. presidents.

As for General Hunter and his army, they were in full retreat by the morning of June 19th due to aggressive defense by Confederate General Jubal Early and a ruse that convinced General Hunter that many reinforcements had entered Lynchburg from Charlottesville the previous night.

General Early and his troops chased Hunter's army through what is now the community of Bedford and back into the mountains of West Virginia.

In 1952, historic Sandusky was bought by Mr. and Mrs. Neville Adkinson. The new owners gradually modernized the house by adding heating and air conditioning and new bathrooms. The Adkinsons undertook their modernization projects while keeping the homes historic past in mind.

Photo left: Plaque at the entrance to historic Sandusky

Forty eight years later, Mrs. Adkinson decided to sell the historic home but would only sell to someone who shared her desire of preserving the home's historic past and making it available to the public.

The Historic Sandusky Foundation purchased it and today it is undergoing preservation and restoration. Charles Johnston's legacy lives on.

There is now a Houck history Center with Civil War period exhibits, gift shop, classroom and theater, and research library.

For those interested , there is a narrated driving tour of the Battle of Lynchburg by author and historian James I. Robertson, Jr. This seven mile audio tour directs you to battlefield sites indicating troop movements. CD or cassettes are available from Sandusky or the Lynchburg Visitor Center.

For more information on every aspect of Historic Sandusky please visit their beautiful website. It includes special events, schedules, admission charges, book selections and a wealth of historical information about the property.

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