Greenfield | |
Formerly listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
![]() Overview from the east | |
Location | Botetourt Center at Greenfield, U.S. Route 220, Fincastle, Virginia |
---|---|
Coordinates | 37°26′17″N79°54′50″W / 37.43806°N 79.91389°W |
Area | 0.86 acres (0.35 ha) |
Built | c. 1832 | , c. 1850
NRHP reference No. | 10000792 [1] |
VLR No. | 011-0026 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | June 28, 2011 |
Designated VLR | June 17, 2010 [2] |
Removed from NRHP | January 6, 2022 |
Greenfield, also known as Col. William Preston Plantation, Preston House, and Botetourt Center at Greenfield, is a historic plantation site located at Fincastle, Botetourt County, Virginia. The first plantation established by surveyor, militia officer and burgess William Preston (1729-1783) and which used enslaved labor beginning with his purchase of 16 Africans from the ship True Blue on August 28, 1759 in Nanjemoy, Maryland for 752pounds (to avoid a 5% Virginia sales tax), Greenfield became one of Botetourt County's largest plantations, encompassing more than 1,200 acres by the 1770s. [3] In 1774 Col. Preston moved his family to another plantation, Smithfield, and a series of white overseers managed the farm, orchard and distillery at Greenfield. [4]
Because fire had destroyed the plantation house in 1959, and the only remaining historic buildings were kitchen/quarters (c. 1832) and saddlebag slave dwelling (c. 1850), which were moved to the Bowyer-Holladay House nearby, although listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011, Greenfield was delisted in January 2022. [1] [5]