William Richardson Davie - Later Life

Later Life

After his unsuccessful run for the House of Representatives Davie retired from public life to his estate, Tivoli, in South Carolina. During the 1812 presidential election, Virginia Federalists who refused to support the candidacy of dissident Democratic-Republican DeWitt Clinton against incumbent Democratic-Republican James Madison nominated presidential electors pledged to Rufus King for president and Davie for vice president. This Federalist slate was defeated by a wide margin ). During the War of 1812, Davie served in the army as well, but declined an offer from President James Madison to command the American forces.

Davie was keenly interested in thoroughbred horses. In 1809, he purchased a champion race horse from William Ransom Johnson, a native of North Carolina who was known in American racing circles as "The Napoleon of the Turf." The horse, "Sir Archy," cost Davie the then-staggering sum of $5,000. That price reflected the horse's greatness and his promise as one of the foundation sires in American racing. Nearly a century and a half later, in 1955, as further testament to Sir Archy's standing, the stallion was among the first class of horses inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Davie died at his Tivoli estate in 1820. He was preceded in death by his wife, the former Sarah Jones, whom he married in 1782. Davie is buried at Old Waxhaw Presbyterian Church in South Carolina. Sarah, who died at the age of 39 in 1802, is buried in the Old Colonial Cemetery in Halifax, North Carolina, and was the daughter of Allen Jones.

Davie County, North Carolina, established in 1836, is named in his memory, as are schools in Davie County and Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, and a park in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. His Tivoli plantation is now part of the Landsford Canal State Park in Chester County, South Carolina.