Sandy Ridge-Joyner Home

Sandy Ridge-Joyner house“This old house stands like a sentinel just within the isle of Wight County line  on Everets Road.  It was probably built by a Godwin or a Lawrence before the Revolutionary War.  Robert Lawrence, Jr., was living there at the time of his death in 1807.  It was sold by Thomas Lawrence to Abraham D. Jones in 1832.  Between 1832 and 1881 there were many owners, some absentee.  The William Dews family owned it from 1836-1851.  In 1881 the 519-acre plantation was bought by George M. Gay of Nansemond.  After his death, his widow, who had remarried, was given her dower including the old house.  Her name then was Mattie M. Wills.  Some of the older generations around here remember the old Wills’ couple sitting on the porch.  After the death of Mattie M. Wills, W. G. Saunders acquired the land, and then sold it to T. J. Saunders, who, in turn, sold it to DeWitt Griffin and W. T. Joyner of Windsor.  It was used as a tenant house for years.”  The house, with its huge chimneys and Dutch roof, was restored by Alva and Weyland Joyner, III in 2000.

Quoted from Historic Isle of Wight County by Helen Haverty King 2007