Providence Plantation and Farm, also known as Fogg House and Farm, is a historic
plantation house
A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and e ...
located near
Newtown in
King and Queen County, Virginia
King and Queen County is a county in the U.S. state of Virginia, located in the state's Middle Peninsula on the eastern edge of the Richmond, VA metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,608. Its county seat is King and Qu ...
. The two story, 3-bay
Federal
Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to:
Politics
General
*Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies
*Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
style brick main house was built about 1826, and expanded circa 1840. Also on the privately-held property, demonstrating the changes over time as the plantation which once encompassed about 1299 acres shrunk to the listed (but still agriculturally operated) 6.47 acres, are the contributing two-story Reconstruction-era
granary
A granary is a storehouse or room in a barn for threshed grain or animal feed. Ancient or primitive granaries are most often made of pottery. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animal ...
and
carriage house
A carriage house, also called a remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack.
In Great Britain the farm building was called a cart shed. These typically were open f ...
, and Great Depression-era hen laying house, two-story sweet potato shed, and mechanic's shop.
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History
Thomas R. Dew, who fought in the Revolutionary War, established a plantation he called Dewsville in King and Queen County, Virginia. He had five sons, and in 1826 built this house as a wedding present for his eldest son, William, who would expand it in the 1840s. Another son, Thomas Roderick Dew
Thomas Roderick Dew (1802–1846) was a professor at and then president of The College of William & Mary. He was an influential pro-slavery advocate.
Biography
Thomas Dew was born in King and Queen County, Virginia, in 1802, son of Captain Th ...
, became a professor and president of the College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...
in Williamsburg, but predeceased his father and elder brother.
By 1830, Dr. William Dew operated this plantation using 17 enslaved people (8 males and 9 females). In 1837, Dr. Dew bought an additional 200 acres from his father, adding to the 500 acres given to him at his wedding, and he may have received an additional 511 acres and 20 slaves upon his father's death in 1849. Dr. Dew donated some land to construct Horeb Church nearby, and died in 1854. At his death, his estate included two farms totaling 1211 acres and more than 60 slaves. On the eve of the Civil War, Dr. Dew's widow, 3 daughters and son Benjamin Dew lived on the property. Three sons fought in the conflict as Confederate officers. Five of the eleven slave quarters noted in the 1860 slave census have been located and investigated by archeologists. Although Mrs. Dew and her daughters managed to operate the plantation with the help of five hired laborers after the conflict, descendants sold the plantation in 1908. Several different families owned the property in the next 13 years, before it was acquired by the Fogg family, whose members modernized it during the next six decades, and some of whom live nearby in newer houses on land once owned by Capt. Thomas Dew. Although the manor house sustained damage over the years (especially when it was vacant for a decade), more remained of the original structure than in other houses of the area and era. It was acquired and restored by the Stuart family in recent years, and named a Virginia Historic Landmark and placed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 2009.[NRIS pp. 12-15]
References
Plantation houses in Virginia
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
Federal architecture in Virginia
Houses completed in 1826
Houses in King and Queen County, Virginia
National Register of Historic Places in King and Queen County, Virginia
1826 establishments in Virginia
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