Kippax Plantation was located on the south bank of the

Appomattox River The Appomattox River is a tributary of the James River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 in central and eastern Virginia in the United ...

in what is today the City of Hopewell in southeast

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. Kippax Plantation was the home of Colonel

Robert Bolling Colonel Robert Bolling (December 26, 1646July 17, 1709), sometimes called Robert Bolling, Sr., after he gave a son his own name, was a wealthy early American settler planter and merchant. Ancestry and early life Robert Bolling was the son o ...

(1646–1709). Bolling married

Jane Rolfe Jane Rolfe (October 10, 1650 – January 26–27, 1676) was the granddaughter of Pocahontas and English colonist John Rolfe, (credited with introducing a strain of tobacco for export by the struggling Virginia Colony). Her husband was Colonel Robe ...

, who was the granddaughter of

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...

and

John Rolfe John Rolfe (1585 – March 1622) was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia in 1611. Biography John Rolfe is believed ...

. Their only child,

John Bolling Major John Bolling (January 27, 1676April 20, 1729) was a colonist, farmer and politician in the Virginia Colony. He was the great-grandchild of Pocahontas and her husband, John Rolfe. Early life and marriage John Bolling was the son of Colo ...

was born at Kippax in 1676, and settled nearby at Cobbs Plantation, just west of Point of Rocks across the Appomattox River in what is now Chesterfield County. While Jane's father

Thomas Rolfe Thomas Rolfe (January 30, 1615 – ) was the only child of Matoaka (Pocahontas) and her English husband, John Rolfe. His maternal grandfather was Chief Wahunsenacawh (or Powhatan), the leader of the Powhatan tribe in Virginia. Early life Thomas ...

(1615–1675) never lived at Kippax Plantation, it is believed that he was buried there, as were Robert and Jane. Kippax Plantation is considered to be a well-preserved archaeological site that is also well documented. Archaeologist

Donald W. Linebaugh Donald W. Linebaugh is an American archaeologist and author. Linebaugh, was director of the University of Kentucky Program for Archaeological Research in the College of Arts and Sciences and was assistant professor of anthropology. He began excava ...

, of the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

, located the remains of Col. Bolling's house in Hopewell, Virginia in 2002. Most of the current digging is performed at the site of the unearthed residence. Research by graduate students from 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 ...

, headed by Donald W. Linebaugh, have found the remains of at least four separate structures spanning the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries at the Kippax site. These structures have the potential to answer important research questions regarding the history of early trade between Europeans and Native Americans, the lives of the

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

slaves who lived there, and the cultural interaction between these groups.

The Archaeological Conservancy The Archaeological Conservancy is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that acquires and preserves archaeological sites in the United States. Whereas nearly every other nation protects all archaeological sites within its borders as part of its nation ...

recently purchased the site of Kippax Plantation to protect it from development. Members of the Archaeological Conservancy are in the process of raising the $205,000 needed for the purchase.

References

External links

Historic Hopewell Foundation
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Colony of Virginia Plantations in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Hopewell, Virginia Bolling family of Virginia Rolfe family of Virginia Houses in Hopewell, Virginia {{HopewellVA-NRHP-stub