Sherwood Forest Plantation Foundation is located on the north bank of the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

Charles City County, Virginia Charles City County is a county located in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated southeast of Richmond and west of Jamestown. It is bounded on the south by the James River and on the east by the Chickahominy River. The ...

. The main plantation house, built in 1730, was the home of President

John Tyler John Tyler (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) was the tenth president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president dire ...

(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 Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

and Williamsburg. The house is located approximately from the river. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1961.

History

Sherwood Forest is the only private residence in the United States to have been owned by two unrelated

U.S. presidents The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term Term may refer to: * Terminology, or term, a noun or compound word used in a specific context, in pa ...

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...

inherited the

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

, then named ''Walnut Grove'', in 1790 and held it for three years. He sold the property in 1793 having never lived in the house. Harrison's vice president and successor

purchased the plantation, which by then had been reduced to , in 1842 and lived there after leaving the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. John Tyler renamed the plantation

Sherwood Forest Sherwood Forest is a royal forest in Nottinghamshire, England, famous because of its historic association with the legend of Robin Hood. The area has been wooded since the end of the Last Glacial Period (as attested by pollen sampling cores ...

in 1842. He said it signified that he had been "

outlawed An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so that anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them ...

" by the Whig party. He was attracted to the plantation because it was near his birthplace at

Greenway Plantation Greenway Plantation is a wood-frame, -story plantation house in Charles City County, Virginia. Historic Route 5 and the Virginia Capital Trail bikeway, both of which connect Williamsburg and Richmond pass to slightly south of this private home ...

. He retired there when he left the White House in 1845 and spent the rest of his life there with his second wife

Julia Gardiner Tyler Julia Tyler ( ''née'' Gardiner; May 4, 1820 – July 10, 1889) was the second wife of John Tyler, who was the tenth president of the United States. As such, she served as the first lady of the United States from June 26, 1844, to March 4, 184 ...

and some of his children. He had eight with his first wife and seven with his second wife. Pearl, the youngest, was born in 1860, when Tyler was 70 years old; she died in 1947. As regional hostilities in the United States escalated to become the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

in 1861, Tyler backed Virginia's secession, although he died in January 1862. Later that spring, the house was occupied by

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

soldiers during McClellan's Peninsula Campaign of 1862 and again during Grant's

Overland Campaign The Overland Campaign, also known as Grant's Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, in the American Civil War. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Union ...

in 1864. During the latter, the Battle of Wilson's Wharf was fought nearby. When an Ohio regiment vacated the house in 1864, they attempted to raze it with fire as a punishment for Tyler's support of the Confederacy. The fire was quickly extinguished by a loyal slave and did little damage to the house. Owners of the house who started restoring it in the mid-1970s started removing some home-made storm windows and then discovered from old records that Tyler had built them himself, so they kept them. One of the house's claims to fame is its length; 301 feet (91 m). It is noted for its long, skinny

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic man ...

, a "hyphen" Tyler had added to the house to accommodate the style of dancing popular then - what is today called "

line dancing A line dance is a choreographed dance in which a group of people dance along to a repeating sequence of steps while arranged in one or more lines or rows. These lines usually face all in the same direction, or less commonly face each other.Knight ...

" but was then the " Virginia reel." The house has been in the Tyler family since it was purchased in 1842. The house currently is owned by Harrison Ruffin Tyler, President Tyler's grandson, and the son of

Lyon Gardiner Tyler Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr. (August 24, 1853 – February 12, 1935) was an American educator, genealogist, and historian. He was a son of John Tyler, the tenth president of the United States. Tyler was the 17th president of the College of William ...

; he and his wife, Frances Payne Bouknight Tyler, restored the home and grounds based on information gathered from over 47,000 letters describing the decor, furnishings, and landscape. It is open to the public for tours by appointment. The grounds are open daily for self-guided tours from 9am-5pm excepting Thanksgiving and Christmas days.

Cemetery

A pet cemetery is located on the property, where Tyler family pets were and still are buried, most notably, John Tyler's horse, The General. Staff at the site also maintain a small grove where Tyler planned to be buried. In January 1862, while in

to serve in the Confederate House of Representatives, Tyler became seriously ill. He died while arranging plans to return to Sherwood Forest, and his request to be buried at his home was ignored. He was instead buried Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery.

References

External links

Sherwood Forest webpage"Life Portrait of John Tyler"
from

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

's '' American Presidents: Life Portraits'', broadcast from Sherwood Forest Plantation, May 17, 1999
Sherwood Forest, State Route 5 vicinity, Charles City, Charles City, VA
30 photos, 2 color transparencies, 3 data pages, and 3 photo caption pages at

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

Sherwood Forest, Necessary, State Route 5 vicinity, Charles City, Charles City, VA
2 photos and 1 photo caption page at Historic American Buildings Survey
Sherwood Forest, Dairy, State Route 5 vicinity, Charles City, Charles City, VA
2 photos and 1 photo caption page at Historic American Buildings Survey
Sherwood Forest, Smokehouse, State Route 5 vicinity, Charles City, Charles City, VA
2 photos and 1 photo caption page at Historic American Buildings Survey
Sherwood Forest, Wine House, State Route 5 vicinity, Charles City, Charles City, VA
1 photo and 1 photo caption page at Historic American Buildings Survey {{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Museums in Charles City County, Virginia James River plantations Presidential homes in the United States National Historic Landmarks in Virginia John Tyler Historic house museums in Virginia Harrison family of Virginia Presidential museums in Virginia Georgian architecture in Virginia Houses in Charles City County, Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Charles City County, Virginia Tyler family residences Virginia Historic Landmarks

History

Cemetery

See also

References

External links