The foundations and main residence were built mainly by slaves, free Afro-American workers, and Europeans on contract. Various parts were done by immigrants, many of whom have not yet obtained US citizenship, i.e. the sandstone walls were erected by immigrants from Scotland.
It is speculated that sandstone was imported from the Croatian island of Brač (from the same Pučišća quarry that supplied the material for the construction of the Diocletian’s Palace in Split). Some researchers claim, however, that it was used during renovation in 1902, and that the raw material from Aquia Creek from Stafford in Virginia was used for the original construction, as importing stone at that time would have been prohibitively expensive.
The cost of the eight-year construction was over $232 thousand (equivalent to $4 million in 2022).
