Berkeley Plantation

Berkeley Plantation is a historic property of approximately 1,000 acres on the north bank of the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. It began as Berkeley Hundred, a colonial settlement established under a 1618 land grant associated with the Virginia Company of London and named for the Berkeley family of Gloucestershire, England. The settlement was located roughly 20 miles upriver from Jamestown and formed part of the early network of English plantations along the James River. The site is particularly associated with the arrival of the ship Margaret of Bristol in December 1619. Thirty-eight settlers landed at Berkeley Hundred under Captain John Woodlief, and the settlement's charter instructed them to observe the anniversary of their arrival as a day of thanksgiving. This service is frequently identified as one of the earliest recorded Thanksgiving observances in what became the United States. Berkeley Hundred was also affected by the coordinated Powhatan attacks of March 1622, during which nine colonists at the settlement were killed. In the eighteenth century, a portion of the original tract came into the Harrison family's possession. Benjamin Harrison IV built the existing Georgian brick mansion in 1726, using bricks fired on the plantation. The property became an important seat of the Harrison family, one of Virginia's prominent colonial families. Benjamin Harrison V, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and governor of Virginia, was born at Berkeley. His son William Henry Harrison, who later became the ninth president of the United States, was also born there. The property is therefore remembered as an ancestral home connected with two U.S. presidents, although Benjamin Harrison, the twenty-third president, was born and raised elsewhere. Berkeley's political and historical associations extended beyond the Harrison family. Members of the early presidential generation, including George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, and John Tyler, were reported to have visited the property or been hosted by the Harrison family. The plantation's agricultural economy, however, deteriorated after generations of intensive tobacco and cotton cultivation. By the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the land was exhausted and the Harrison family faced serious financial problems. The property was eventually foreclosed on, and Benjamin Harrison VII became the last Harrison owner. During the American Civil War, Union forces occupied Berkeley Plantation. Abraham Lincoln visited twice in 1862 to confer with General George B. McClellan. The surrounding area was also connected with the development of Taps: Union bugler Oliver W. Norton first played the call in 1862, while the melody was developed at nearby Harrison's Landing by Norton and General Daniel Butterfield. A Confederate cannonball fired from the James River struck the mansion during the war and remains embedded in the building. After the war, the Harrisons did not regain the property. The mansion was rented to tenant farmers and deteriorated severely, at one point being used as a barn. Lumberman John Jamieson purchased Berkeley in 1907. His son Malcolm Jamieson later undertook a long restoration, eventually making the house habitable again in the 1930s. The ground floor opened as a museum in the 1960s, and the property developed into a public historic-house and tourism destination. Today Berkeley Plantation combines museum interpretation, historic architecture, formal gardens, agricultural activity, and landscape tourism. The main house retains its red-brick Georgian form and period furnishings, while the grounds include boxwood-lined gardens, parterres, a guest house, and a family cemetery. The estate remains a working farm producing crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat, tomatoes, and other vegetables. Reconstructed slave quarters were added in 2018 in connection with the filming of Harriet, providing an opportunity to interpret the site's history of enslavement; the original quarters no longer survived. Berkeley is recognized as a significant historic property and is open to visitors as a museum and heritage site.

Berkeley Plantation originated as Berkeley Hundred, an approximately 8,000-acre tract granted in 1618 to a group connected with the Virginia Company of London. The investors included Sir William Throckmorton, Sir George Yeardley, George Thorpe, Richard Berkeley, and John Smith of Nibley. The property occupied the north bank of the James River in the area then called Charles Cittie, near Herring Creek and downstream from Shirley Plantation. Its name reflected the Berkeley family and the Berkeley district of Gloucestershire. On December 4, 1619, the Margaret of Bristol arrived with thirty-eight settlers led by Captain John Woodlief. Their charter required an annual religious observance on the anniversary of the ship's arrival, and the service held at Berkeley Hundred is consequently regarded as one of the earliest recorded Thanksgiving observances in English America. The settlement suffered during the Powhatan attacks of March 22, 1622, when nine colonists were killed at Berkeley. In 1634, the surrounding jurisdiction became Charles City County, one of Virginia's original shires. A later patent reaffirmed the Berkeley Hundred lands, but ownership changed over time, and part of the tract eventually passed through the Bland family before being acquired by the Harrison family. Benjamin Harrison IV established the mansion that survives today in 1726. The two-story Georgian brick house was built with plantation-made bricks and became the center of the Harrison family's Virginia estate. Benjamin Harrison V, a Declaration of Independence signer and Virginia governor, was born there, as was his son William Henry Harrison, later the ninth president of the United States. Berkeley was also a setting in which the Harrison family hosted leading figures of the early republic. The estate's agricultural system depended on labor-intensive tobacco and cotton cultivation, including the enslavement of African Americans. Extended monoculture depleted the soil and contributed to the plantation's financial decline. By 1799, when Benjamin Harrison VII inherited Berkeley, the property was already under severe economic pressure. After roughly 150 years of Harrison ownership, a local bank foreclosed on the estate and the family was removed. Harrison ownership ended with Benjamin Harrison VII. Berkeley became strategically important during the Civil War because of its position on the James River. Union troops occupied the property, and Abraham Lincoln visited in 1862 while conferring with McClellan. A cannonball fired by Confederate forces under J. E. B. Stuart struck the mansion from the river and remains visible. The area also became associated with Taps. Union bugler Oliver W. Norton first played the call in 1862, using music developed at Harrison's Landing by Norton and General Daniel Butterfield. Following the war, the property was rented to tenant farmers and declined dramatically. The mansion was eventually used as a barn and became uninhabitable. John Jamieson, a lumberman who had served at Berkeley as a drummer boy during McClellan's campaign, purchased the property in 1907. His son Malcolm inherited it in 1925 and, together with Grace Eggleston, directed a restoration that lasted more than a decade. The family moved into the restored mansion in 1938. The ground floor became a museum during the 1960s. Restoration extended to the formal gardens and landscape, while the house was furnished with antiques and objects appropriate to its eighteenth-century history. Berkeley continues to function as a working farm as well as a public historic property. Its interpretation now includes colonial settlement, the Harrison family, presidential associations, Civil War events, Taps, agricultural history, and slavery. In 2018, reconstructed slave quarters were built for the production of Harriet, since the original structures no longer survived. Berkeley remains a visitor attraction on Virginia State Route 5 and part of the James River plantation landscape.

• 2018

  Reconstructed slave quarters are built

  [1]Berkeley Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Reconstructed quarters are created for the filming of Harriet, adding an interpretive element to the site's history of enslavement.

• 1960

  The mansion opens as a museum

  [1]Berkeley Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  The ground floor begins operating as a public museum during the 1960s.

• 1938

  The restored mansion becomes habitable

  [1]Berkeley Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Malcolm Jamieson and Grace Eggleston occupy the restored house after more than a decade of work.

• 1907

  John Jamieson purchases Berkeley

  [1]Berkeley Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  John Jamieson acquires the deteriorated plantation and begins the property's modern restoration history.

• 1862

  Civil War occupation and the first playing of Taps

  [1]Berkeley Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Union forces occupy Berkeley, Abraham Lincoln visits, and the property area is associated with the first performance of Taps.

• 1799

  Benjamin Harrison VII inherits Berkeley

  [1]Berkeley Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  The estate passes to Benjamin Harrison VII during a period of agricultural exhaustion and financial decline.

• 1773

  William Henry Harrison is born at Berkeley

  [1]Berkeley Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  William Henry Harrison, who later becomes the ninth U.S. president, is born at the plantation.

• 1726

  The Harrison mansion is built

  [1]Berkeley Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Benjamin Harrison IV constructs the Georgian brick mansion that remains the property's centerpiece.

• 1634

  Charles City County is formed

  [1]Berkeley Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  The area becomes part of Charles City County, one of Virginia's first shires.

• 1622

  Berkeley is attacked during the Powhatan conflict

  [1]Berkeley Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Nine colonists at Berkeley are killed during the coordinated attacks later known in English colonial histories as the Indian massacre of 1622.

• 1619

  The Margaret arrives at Berkeley Hundred

  [1]Berkeley Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Thirty-eight settlers arrive on December 4, and a chartered day of thanksgiving is observed.

• 1618

  Berkeley Hundred is established

  [1]Berkeley Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  A Virginia Company-associated land grant creates Berkeley Hundred on the north bank of the James River.

A historic-house museum and heritage tourism property presenting colonial Virginia, the Harrison family, early American political history, Civil War history, African American and slavery-related history, formal gardens, and a continuing agricultural landscape.

• Museum and heritage attraction · 1960

  Historic mansion museum

  The restored 1726 Georgian brick mansion is the central visitor offering. Its interiors contain period furnishings and antiques, and interpretation focuses on the Harrison family, colonial Virginia, presidential associations, the Civil War, and the property's agricultural and enslaved-labor history.

• Historic landscape

  Formal gardens and grounds

  The house is set within formal gardens and parterres organized by boxwood hedges, allées, gates, and historic landscape features. Visitors can also view the guest house, family cemetery, river setting, and the cannonball embedded in the mansion.

• Agriculture

  Working farm

  Berkeley remains an operating agricultural property. Crops identified in reference material include corn, soybeans, wheat, tomatoes, and other vegetables, connecting the visitor attraction to the estate's continuing rural land use.

• 2018Harriet filming and reconstructed slave quarters

  United States

  The production of Harriet filmed partly at Berkeley Plantation and built reconstructed slave quarters because the original structures were no longer extant.

  Outcome. The reconstructed structures remained associated with the site's interpretation of slavery and African American history.

  Source

• 2018

  Add reconstructed slave quarters for film productionOther

  Background

  The original slave quarters were no longer standing when Harriet was filmed at the plantation.

  Action taken

  Film producers constructed reconstructed slave quarters on the property.

  Aftermath

  The structures provided a physical setting for the film and an additional point of interpretation for Berkeley's history of enslavement.

  Source

• 1960

  Convert the restored mansion into a public museumStrategy

  Background

  After the Jamieson family's restoration of the deteriorated plantation house, the property moved toward public heritage use.

  Action taken

  The ground floor was opened as a museum during the 1960s.

  Aftermath

  Berkeley became an ongoing historic-house and tourism destination while retaining agricultural activity.

  Source

• 2018

  Berkeley Plantation is used as a filming location for Harriet[1]Berkeley Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Campaign · Other

  Production of the film Harriet used part of Berkeley Plantation and constructed reconstructed slave quarters on the property because the original quarters were no longer extant.

• 1862

  Berkeley Plantation becomes a Civil War headquarters and receives visits from Abraham Lincoln[1]Berkeley Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  Union forces occupied Berkeley Plantation during the Civil War, and Abraham Lincoln visited the property twice to confer with General George B. McClellan. The same period is associated with the first performance of Taps at the plantation area.

1. 1Berkeley Plantationen.wikipedia.org