Greenfield (Fincastle, Virginia)
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. 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.
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.
References
- ^ "National Register of Historic Places Listings". Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 7/05/11 through 7/08/11. National Park Service. September 2, 2011. Archived from the original on November 4, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
- ^ "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved May 12, 2013.
- ^ Daniel B. Thorp, In the True Blue's Wake, (University of Virginia Press 2022 ISBN=978-0-8139-4723-5) p. 11
- ^ Michael J. Pulice & John R. Kern (April 2010). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Greenfield" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. and Accompanying five photos
- ^ https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/011-0028/
