Lacey House, Falmouth, Virginia

Alexander Gardner

Timothy O'Sullivan

December, 1862

An albumen silver print in which Alexander Gardner aimed to document the Lacey House in Falmouth, Virginia, preserving the look of a Civil War–era domestic site.

At first glance the broad, two‑story house with its double gallery porch and chimneys is framed by bare winter trees, while small, shadowy figures on the porch and lawn give a quiet human scale amid the soft, slightly faded tonalities of 1860s albumen printing.

Taken during the Civil War, this photograph exemplifies how Gardner and his contemporaries used photography to record and shape public memory of wartime landscapes and everyday places, advancing the medium as a tool of historical documentation.

Palette

Exhibitions

Photographs of the Civil War and the American Frontier

1942

From the Gilman Collection: Photographs Preserved in Ink

1984

American Art Portfolio

1936

Romantic Painting in America

1943