Smithfield is a

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 ...

Blacksburg, Virginia Blacksburg is an incorporated town in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 44,826 at the 2020 census. Blacksburg and the surrounding county is dominated economically and demographically by the presence of Virginia T ...

, built from 1772 to 1774 by Col. William Preston to be his residence and the headquarters of his farm. It was the birthplace of two

Virginia Governor The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The governor is head of the executive branch of the government of Virginia and is the commander-in-chief of the Virginia National Guard an ...

James Patton Preston James Patton Preston (June 21, 1774May 4, 1843) was a U.S. political figure who served as the 20th Governor of Virginia. Biography James Patton Preston was born at Smithfield Plantation, in what is now Blacksburg, Virginia. He attended the C ...

and

John B. Floyd John Buchanan Floyd (June 1, 1806 – August 26, 1863) was an American politician who served as the List of governors of Virginia, 31st Governor of Virginia. Under president James Buchanan, he also served as the U.S. Secretary of War from 1857 ...

. The house remained a family home until 1959 when the home was donated to the APVA.

History

The plantation site was part of 120,000

acres The acre ( ) is a unit of land area used in the British imperial and the United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, ...

originally granted to James Patton by the

British Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

. Patton was killed in the Draper's Meadow massacre in July 1755. The property was purchased by Patton's nephew, William Preston, who built the house from 1773 to 1774.Ryan S. Mays, "The Draper's Meadows Settlement (1746-1756)," Part I, ''The Smithfield Review,'' Volume 18, 2014
/ref> Preston was an important colonial political figure, and may have been the author of the Fincastle Resolutions. He remained on the property, despite frequent threats from nearby Tories and Loyalists and Native Americans and the disruptions of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

until his death from a stroke at a 1783 local militia muster. The property then passed to his wife, Susanna Smith Preston, who lived there until her death forty years later.

, Virginia Governor, inherited the farm from his mother. It was also the birthplace and home of his son, William Ballard Preston, who worked with

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

in the 1840s in Congress as part of a group of legislators known as " The Young Indians" and later authored Virginia's Articles of Secession in 1861. Descendants of William and Susanna Preston included four Virginia Governors –

, John Floyd,

James McDowell James McDowell (October 13, 1795 – August 24, 1851) was the 29th Governor of Virginia from 1843 to 1846 and was a U.S. Congressman from 1846 to 1851. Biography McDowell was born at "Cherry Grove," near Rockbridge County, Virginia, on ...

, and John Buchanan Floyd – and numerous other legislators. In addition, descendants were instrumental in the founding and growth of several universities, including

Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

and

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

. The house itself is L-shaped, with high ceilings and large rooms. The detailing and proportions of the house are unusual for

frontier A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. Australia The term "frontier" was frequently used in colonial Australia in the meaning of country that borders the unknown or uncivilised, th ...

homes. More unusually, the master bedroom is placed between the parlor and the dining room on the first floor, implying that Preston wanted to impress his guests with his ornate bedroom furniture.

Preservation

Preservation Virginia Founded in 1889, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities was the United States' first statewide historic preservation group. In 2003 the organization adopted the new name APVA Preservation Virginia to reflect a broader focus ...

acquired the property in 1959 as a gift from Janie Preston Boulware Lamb, a descendant of Revolutionary War Patriot leader Colonel William Preston. With help from

and the Virginia Daughters of the American Revolution, the property was restored and opened to the public in 1964. The rooms of the house are furnished with eighteenth and nineteenth century

Decorative arts ] The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose aim is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. This includes most of the objects for the interiors of buildings, as well as interior design, but typically excl ...

furniture, portraits and other items, while the basement level Museum contains a variety of artifacts found on-site, including Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native American relics. The landscape includes an eighteenth-century kitchen garden tended by volunteers. The plantation is open for tours April through the first week in December.

References

External links

Historic Smithfield Plantation
– official site {{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Plantations in Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Colonial architecture in Virginia Houses completed in 1773 Museums in Montgomery County, Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Virginia Historic house museums in Virginia Buildings and structures in Blacksburg, Virginia Houses in Montgomery County, Virginia Preston family (Virginia)