Stratford, home of the Lee family, overlooking the Potomac River, E Va., SE of Fredericksburg. A national shrine dedicated in 1935, the site was purchased in 1716 by Thomas Lee, who built the mansion Stratford Hall in 1729–30. It was the birthplace of Richard Henry Lee and Francis L. Lee, the home of Henry Lee, and the birthplace of his son Robert E. Lee. At the site the activities of an antebellum plantation are carried on—spinning, weaving, curing hams, and grinding meal.

Stratford, town (1990 pop. 49,389), Fairfield co., SW Conn., at the mouth of the Housatonic River on Long Island Sound; inc. 1639. Transportation equipment; helicopters; machinery; hardware items; electrical goods; foods; chemicals; plastic, paper, and rubber products; and tools are among its manufactures. The Stratford Festival Theater (originally the American Shakespeare Festival Theater) opened there in 1955. The David Judson house (1723) has been restored, and other pre-Revolutionary houses still stand.

Stratford, city (1991 pop. 27,666), S Ont., Canada, on the Avon River, SW of Toronto, the seat of Perth co. It is a busy hub for the Canadian National Railroad and an industrial center, with plants manufacturing textiles, furniture, automobile parts, and rubber and leather products. Food products from the surrounding farm area are processed there. The city is the home of the noted Stratford Festival (started 1953).