Named for a tree marking its distance by water from Jamestown, the plantation of Four Mile Tree has been an established unit in Surry County since the early 17th century. It was first settled by the Browne family, who occupied it for over a century and a half. The present house, dating from the mid-18th-century, shows the application of formal Georgian planning and detailing to a building with a more unassuming native quality. The visual character of the exterior is defined by its jerkinhead gambrel roof pierced by five dormers on the primary (landside) façade, and three dormers on the river side façade. The house was remodeled in the 19th century when its brick walls were stuccoed, its sashes replaced, and the portico added. Much of the early paneled woodwork and a Georgian stair were left untouched. A family graveyard contains Virginia’s oldest legible tombstone, dated 1650.  Four Mile Tree has been incorporated into the neighboring Mount Pleasant Foundation property, and the Foundation has undertaken a careful restoration of the house.