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King of All Places manor house as seen from Cypress Creek
King of All Places manor house as seen from the Windsor Castle Park marsh overlook
King of All Places is a former plantation on the eastern side of Cypress Creek in Smithfield, Virginia. The plantation manor house dates from 1806. [1] The plantation was founded by the Grimes family. The plantation was subdivided during the 1950s to form the Grimesland subdivision. The manor house remains a private residence. The manor house can be seen from the marsh overlook at Windsor Castle Park.
The origin of the name is recorded in the notes of the will of Captain John Moon: "Cypress creek flows into Pagan creek at Smithfield. The King of All Places is the first landing on Cypress creek and is so called from its very high bluffs, and the channel of the creek which runs right up to the bluff, and its depth of water. From the mouth of Pagan creek there are extensive flats extending thirty, forty, fifty feet and more from the shore, preventing the easy loading of a vessel, but at the King of All Places the vessel can be right up at the shore and be loaded without the least trouble; hence it was the King of All Places for shipping purposes. This is perfectly apparent "to the oldest inhabitant" now, but "the oldest inhabitant" never dreampt that these names were so ancient." [2]
Isle of Wight County is a county located in the Hampton Roads region of the U.S. state of Virginia. It was named after the Isle of Wight, England, south of the Solent, from where many of its early colonists had come. As of the 2020 census, the population was 38,606. Its county seat is Isle of Wight, an unincorporated community.
Smithfield is a town in Isle of Wight County, in the South Hampton Roads subregion of the Hampton Roads region of Virginia in the United States. The population was 8,089 at the 2010 census.
Windsor is an incorporated town in Isle of Wight County in the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia in the United States. It is located near the crossroads of U.S. Route 460 and U.S. Route 258. The population was 2,626 at the 2010 census, up from 916 at the 2000 census.
U.S. Route 258 is a spur of US 58 in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Virginia. The U.S. Highway runs 220.15 miles (354.30 km) from US 17 Business and NC 24 Business in Jacksonville, North Carolina north to Virginia State Route 143 at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia. In North Carolina, US 258 connects Jacksonville with the Inner Banks communities of Kinston, Snow Hill, Farmville, Tarboro, and Murfreesboro. The U.S. Highway continues through the Virginia city of Franklin, where the highway intersects US 58, and the town of Smithfield on its way to the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. US 258 crosses the James River on the James River Bridge and follows Mercury Boulevard through Newport News and Hampton.
Founded in 1889, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities was the United States' first statewide historic preservation group. In 2003 the organization adopted the new name APVA Preservation Virginia to reflect a broader focus on statewide Preservation and in 2009 it shortened its name to Preservation Virginia. Preservation Virginia owns historic sites across Virginia including Historic Jamestowne, located at Jamestown, Virginia, site of the first permanent English settlement in North America, and the Cape Henry Lighthouse, one of the first public works projects of the United States of America.
State Route 10 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs 93.58 miles (150.60 km) from U.S. Route 360 in Richmond east to SR 337 in Suffolk. SR 10 is a major suburban highway through Chesterfield County between the Southside of Richmond and Hopewell. Between Hopewell and Smithfield, which is served by SR 10 Business, the state highway passes through rural Prince George, Surry, and Isle of Wight counties, following the route of an old stagecoach road through an area that features many of the preserved James River plantations. SR 10 runs concurrently with US 258 and SR 32 between Smithfield and Suffolk.
Warrosquoake Shire was officially formed in 1634 in the Virginia colony, but had already been known as "Warascoyack County" before this. It was named for an Algonquian-speaking tribe that was part of the Powhatan Confederacy. The county was renamed in 1637 as Isle of Wight County, after an island in the English Channel.
Windsor Castle is a castle in Windsor, one of the seats of the British Royal Family.
Smithfield High School is a public high school located in Smithfield, Virginia in Isle of Wight County, south of Newport News and the James River. It is part of the Isle of Wight County Public Schools and graduated its first class in 1906. The school's current facility opened in 1980. Athletic teams compete in the Virginia High School League's AA Bay Rivers District in Region I. Smithfield High School is also fully accredited school by the Virginia Board of Education and is also part of the program 'No Child Left Behind.'
Arthur Smith was a U.S. Representative from Virginia.
Richard Bennett was an English planter and Governor of the Colony of Virginia, serving 1652–1655. He had first come to the colony in 1629 to represent his uncle Edward Bennett's business interests, managing his plantation known as Bennett's Welcome in Warrascoyack.
The Pagan River (Warraskoyak) is a 12.5-mile-long (20.1 km) tributary of the James River located in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. The colonial seaport town of Smithfield sits on the banks of this river.
Windsor Castle is a former plantation and now a public park in Smithfield, Virginia, United States. It is located in the Smithfield Historic District.
John George (1603–1679) was an early Virginia colonist, landowner, soldier, county court justice and legislative representative (politician). He served at least two terms as a burgess in the Virginia House of Burgesses in the 1640s and 1650s representing Isle of Wight County, Virginia.
The Burwells were among the First Families of Virginia in the Colony of Virginia. John Quincy Adams once described the Burwells as typical Virginia aristocrats of their period: forthright, bland, somewhat imperious and politically simplistic by Adams' standards. In 1713, so many Burwells had intermarried with the Virginia political elite that Governor Spotswood complained that " the greater part of the present Council are related to the Family of Burwells...there will be no less than seven so near related that they will go off the Bench whenever a Cause of the Burwells come to be tried."
Smithfield Historic District is a national historic district located at Smithfield, Isle of Wight County, Virginia. It encompasses 289 contributing buildings and 2 contributing structures in the historic downtown and surrounding residential areas of Smithfield. There are 211 houses, 37 commercial buildings, 1 warehouse, 4 churches, 10 barns, 1 smokehouse, 23 garages, 1 farm office, 1 colonial kitchen, and 2 corncrib structures. Notable buildings include the original county clerk's office (1799), county jail, Wentworth-Barrett House, Wentworth–Grinnan House, King-Atkinson House, Smith-Morrison House (1770s), Hayden Hall, Boykin House, Goodrich House (1886), Thomas House (1889), Smithfield Academy (1827), Christ Episcopal Church, and Hill Street Baptist Church (1923). Located in the district and separately listed are the Old Isle of Wight Courthouse, Smithfield Inn, Windsor Castle Farm, and P. D. Gwaltney Jr. House.
USS Smith Briggs was a Union Army gunboat destroyed during the American Civil War.
The Isle of Wight County Museum is located in Smithfield, Virginia.
Elizabeth Bray Allen also known as Elizabeth Bray Allen Smith Stith operated a large plantation after the death of her first husband, Arthur Allen. After the death of her second husband, she operated both the Allen and Smith estates. She provided the direction and funds to establish a free school for poor boys and girls in Smithfield, Virginia.
Coordinates: 36°58′22.33″N76°36′53.46″W / 36.9728694°N 76.6148500°W