Berkeley Plantation, one of the first plantations in America, comprises about 1,000 acres (400 ha) on the banks of the James River on State Route 5 in Charles City County, Virginia. Berkeley Plantation was originally called Berkeley Hundred, named after the Berkeley Company of England. In 1726, it became the ancestral home of the Harrison family of Virginia, after Benjamin Harrison IV located there and built one of the first three-story brick mansions in Virginia. It is the home to two presidents of the United States: William Henry Harrison, and his grandson Benjamin Harrison. It is now a museum property, open to the public.
Sherwood Forest Plantation Foundation is located on the north bank of the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. The main plantation house, built in 1730, was the home of the tenth president of the United States, John Tyler (1790–1862) for the last twenty years of his life. It is located on State Route 5, a scenic byway which runs between the independent cities of Richmond and Williamsburg. The house is located approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the river. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961.
Poplar Forest is a plantation and retreat home in Forest, Virginia, United States, that belonged to Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father and third U.S. president. Jefferson inherited the property in 1773 and began designing and working on his retreat home in 1806. While Jefferson is the most famous individual associated with the property, it had several owners before being purchased for restoration, preservation, and exhibition in 1984.
Shirley Plantation is an estate on the north bank of the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. It is located on scenic byway State Route 5, between Richmond and Williamsburg. It is the oldest active plantation in Virginia and the oldest family-owned business in North America, dating back to 1614, with operations starting in 1648. It used about 70 to 90 African slaves at a time for plowing the fields, cleaning, childcare, and cooking. It was added to the National Register in 1969 and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970. After the acquisition, rebranding, and merger of Tuttle Farm in Dover, New Hampshire, Shirley Plantation received the title of the oldest business continuously operating in the United States.
Westover Plantation is a historic colonial tidewater plantation located on the north bank of the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. Established in c. 1730–1750, it is the homestead of the Byrd family of Virginia. State Route 5, a scenic byway, runs east–west to the north of the plantation, connecting the independent cities of Richmond and Williamsburg.
James Madison's Montpelier, located in Orange County, Virginia, was the plantation house of the Madison family, including Founding Father and fourth president of the United States James Madison and his wife, Dolley. The 2,650-acre (1,070 ha) property is open seven days a week with the mission of engaging the public with the enduring legacy of Madison's most powerful idea: government by the people.
Wilton House Museum is a museum in a historic house located in Richmond, Virginia. Wilton was constructed c. 1753 by William Randolph III, son of William Randolph II, of Turkey Island. Wilton was originally the manor house on a 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) tobacco plantation known as "World's End" located on the north bank of the James River several miles east of the city of Richmond. Between 1747 and 1759, William III acquired more than a dozen contiguous tracts of land. About 1753, Randolph completed building a Georgian manor house, which he named "Wilton," on a site overlooking the river.
Greenway Court is a historic country estate near White Post in rural Clarke County, Virginia. The property is the site of the seat of the vast 18th-century land empire of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1693-1781), the only ennobled British colonial proprietor to live in one of the North American colonies. The surviving remnants of his complex — a later replacement brick house and Fairfax's stone land office — were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.
Piney Grove at Southall's Plantation is a property listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Holdcroft, Charles City County, Virginia. The scale and character of the collection of domestic architecture at this site recalls the vernacular architectural traditions of the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries along the James River.
Castle Hill (Virginia) is an historic, privately owned, 600-acre (243 ha) plantation located at the foot of the Southwest Mountains in Albemarle County, Virginia, near Monticello and the city of Charlottesville, and is recognized by the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. Castle Hill was the home of Dr. Thomas Walker (1715–1794) and his wife, Mildred Thornton Meriwether (widow of Nicholas Meriwether III). Walker was a close friend and the physician of Peter Jefferson, and later the guardian of young Thomas Jefferson after his father's death.
Menokin, also known as Francis Lightfoot Lee House, was the plantation of Francis Lightfoot Lee near Warsaw, Virginia, built for him by his wife's father, John Tayloe II, of nearby Mount Airy. Lee, a Founding Father, was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. Menokin was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971.
Tuckahoe, also known as Tuckahoe Plantation, or Historic Tuckahoe is located in Tuckahoe, Virginia on Route 650 near Manakin Sabot, Virginia, overlapping both Goochland and Henrico counties, six miles from the town of the same name. Built in the first half of the 18th century, it is a well-preserved example of a colonial plantation house and is particularly distinctive as a colonial prodigy house. Thomas Jefferson is also recorded as having spent some of his childhood here. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1969.
Mayhurst is an 1859 Italianate mansion in Orange, Virginia. It was built by the Willis family relatives of President James Madison as the plantation house for an estate comprising 2,500 acres (10 km2) of fields, pastures and forest. It was a scene of action in the Civil War. It is currently operated as an Inn.
John Tyler Sr. was an American lawyer, planter, politician and judge who served in the Virginia House of Delegates and became 15th Governor of Virginia and later United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Virginia. He was the father of U.S. President John Tyler.
Dogham Farm, previously known as Doggams, is a historic home and farm located in Charles City, Charles City County, Virginia. In 1642, Joseph Royall patented 600 acres on the north side of the James River in Charles City County. The plantation he named "Doggams" later became known as "Dogham" in the 18th century. Following the death of Joseph Royall, his widow married Henry Isham. Dogham is notable not only for its antiquity but also for its continuous ownership and occupation by the same family - the property remains in the Royall and Isham lines today.
Woodburn, also known as Woodbourne, is a historic plantation house located near Charles City, Charles City County, Virginia. The house was built about 1815 by John Tyler, who later served as tenth President of the United States. The Palladian house is a three-part frame structure consisting of a tall, two-story, three-bay central section with a gable-end facade and flanking chimneys, and two, low one-story, one-bay wings. Also on the property are a contributing one-story frame office and an original smokehouse. The Woodburn property was purchased by John Tyler in 1813. He resided there until 1821, and sold the property to his brother Wat H. Tyler in 1831. During his residence at Woodburn, he served as Congressman.
Greenway, also known as Prospect Hill, is a historic home and farm complex located at Madison Mills, Madison County, Virginia. The original section was built about 1780, and is a 1+1⁄2-story, heavy timber-frame structure, on a hall-and-parlor plan. A shed-roofed rear addition was added shortly before 1800. A rear wing was added in the early-20th century and enlarged in 1986. Also on the property are the contributing wood frame dairy / maids house; brick dairy / smokehouse; pumphouse ; garage, corncrib, and the Madison/Taliaferro family cemetery. Greenway was built by Francis Madison, brother of President James Madison.
Cedar Grove is a historic plantation house located near Providence Forge, New Kent County, Virginia. The main section was built about 1810, and is a 2+1⁄2-story, single pile, brick structure. The frame section was added about 1916. It has a traditional one-room side-hall plan. Also on the property are a contributing smokehouse and several sheds added about 1916. It was the farm residence of the Christians, a leading county family of colonial and early-Republican times. The 19th-century cemetery contains the graves of the Christian family, including Letitia Christian Tyler, the first wife of President John Tyler.
