Greenfield (Fincastle, Virginia)
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Greenfield, also known as Col. William Preston Plantation, Preston House, and Botetourt Center at Greenfield, is a historic
plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...
site located at Fincastle,
Botetourt County, Virginia Botetourt County ( ) is a US county that lies in the Roanoke Region of Virginia. Located in the mountainous portion of the state, the county is bordered by two major ranges, the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains. Botetourt C ...
. 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. an
''Accompanying five photos''
/ref> 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 Bowyer-Holladay House, also known as the Lewis Holladay House, is a historic archaeological site located near Fincastle, Botetourt County, Virginia. The site is located in The Botetourt Center at Greenfield industrial park. The site consists ...
nearby, although listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 2011, Greenfield was delisted in January 2022.https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/011-0028/


References

Plantation houses in Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Houses completed in 1832 Buildings and structures in Botetourt County, Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Botetourt County, Virginia Burned houses in the United States 1832 establishments in Virginia Preston family (Virginia) Former National Register of Historic Places in Virginia {{BotetourtCountyVA-NRHP-stub