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The more we investigate, the more we learn. In a sense, Philip Ludwell III was an invisible man of the colonial era compared to the famous names of the 18th century. And yet there he was:
- assisting Benjamin Franklin in charitable work,
- advocating for the appointment of a young George Washington as a Colonel in the Virginia Militia,
- advocating against the importation of African Slaves, and
- translating and publishing works of the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith.
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Spiritual Life on a Tidewater Plantation
Life in the mid-Atlantic colonies in the early to mid 1700s largely revolved around Tidewater plantations. Inheriting Green Spring, near Williamsburg, Philip Ludwell III married Frances Grymes at her family's plantation Morattico, while his sister Hannah married Thomas Lee of Stratford Hall. Both Morattico and Stratford Hall were in Virginia's Northern Neck peninsula, between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers.
Plantation life also involved spiritual life, with actual parish churches far away and difficult to access. The shape of "Structure S" at Green Spring looks similar to the outline of a traditional Eastern church building. What's more, the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church in 1761 made special note of the "order of prayer to follow in [Ludwell's] native land" upon his return to Virginia.
As is frequently the case in the Orthodox Church they were most likely sanctioning something that had already been employed by Ludwell whilst living in Virginia between 1740 and 1760, following his reception into the Greek Church in London at the end of 1738.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton (Maryland), the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a frequent visitor to Ludwell's London home in the 1760s, and said of Ludwell:
"his company & friendship is desirable; his esteem wou'd rebound to my praise; tis glorious to be esteemed by men of worth: among these Mr Ludwell ought to be ranked if true politeness, solid sense, a virtuous mind & a good heart deserve this appellation."
Map image from "Stratford Hall Plantation and the Lees of Virginia" - Stratford Hall Plantation