Plantations

Historical Houses

Although we often drive past several old plantations along the James River near our home in Williamsburg, we've never managed to visit one until recently. A knowledgeable local friend recommended Westover Plantation, so we began our exploration there. The first picture below shows a tree-lined portion of the long dirt entrance drive approaching the main house.

Plantation seems to be a fancy word for farm. Westover is still a working farm, as you can see from the crops growing on both sides of the road in the previous picture. This is a very lovely farm indeed, with many beautifully kept verdant fields all around.

After paying the entrance fee we walked along a shady path towards the side of the house facing the James River.

This was our first view of the house.

The next view from the south lawn shows the full extent of the house. The center portion was built in approximately 1730 by William Byrd II.

Next is a view of the river from the south lawn. I want to say this is the back lawn, but I'm not sure which side of the house is considered the front.

A walk out toward the river reveals this scene along the western riverbank.

The opposite side of the house, the north side, has a more elaborate door and an impressive gate at the entrance. So, maybe, this is the front of the house. The gate has William Byrd's initials in the iron work over the gate - a bit more impressive than the unremarkable welcome mat by my front door.

An elaborate garden lies next to the house with paths for a shady evening stroll. Wouldn't that be nice, you think, to stroll through your own private garden like this one on a pleasant day? Wait a minute! Who built and maintained this garden? Who constantly weeded, trimmed, and planted? Certainly not William Byrd II, master of the house! He and his guests just strolled through the garden conversing after dinner while slaves and servants responsible for the garden hoped to get a few hours rest after a hard working day.

One garden path leads to the centrally placed tomb of the house's builder, William Byrd II, who lived from 1674 to 1744.

Carved on the tomb is a barely legible epitaph containing flowery prose so fascinating and alien to me. Here are two examples:

"Being born to one of the amplest fortunes in this country, he was sent early to England for his education, where, under the care and instruction of Sir Robert Southwell, and ever favored with his particular instruction, he made happy proficiency in polite and various learning;"

"To all this was added a great elegance of taste and life, the well-bred gentleman and polite companion, the splendid economist and proudest father of a family with the constant enemy of all exorbitant power and hearty friend to the liberties of his country."

 
How many of us would describe our education as "happy proficiency in polite and various learning"? Here is a portrait of the tomb's occupant, William Byrd II.

Apparently, William Byrd II was not a paragon of moral virtue despite being described as a "well-bred gentleman and polite companion." His behavior toward women and servants was particularly bad. Some humility might have been useful. Here's a guy who has a monument to himself on the grounds of his own house. I find this bizarre!

The old Westover Church once existed a quarter mile west of the house along the river. We walked down the original carriage path to that site where an ancient cemetery still remains. One of the graves there is from 1637!

Roughly two miles up river from the Westover Plantation is the Berkeley Plantation where we visited next. Berkeley has made more effort to accommodate visitors than Westover. Berkeley charged a higher admission fee, but the house was open. Berkeley had guided tours, a gift shop, restrooms, and more visitors than Westover. The Westover mansion was closed, and we walked around the Westover grounds in quiet solitude guided only by a brochure.

Berkeley has been the site of much American history beginning with the first settlers in 1619 before the present house was built. Later, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were guests in the house. Two American presidents and a signer of the Declaration of Independance came from the Harrison family who built, owned, and lived in the house. Benedict Arnold looted the house during the Revolution. Abraham Lincoln visited when the entire Union army was camped here during the Civil War.

The north side of the Berkeley mansion, completed in 1726, is seen through the gates below.

A long path starts from the south side of the house as seen in the next picture.

The fine gravel path leads away from the house down toward the river.

At the end of the path the view opens to a magnificent scene.

Imagine this is your lawn, and you sit here on a bench while cool summer breezes blow from the river ahead. How lovely! But after a while you think, "Hey. Who mows this enormous lawn? Who maintains the crops and the many gardens, trees, and shrubs?" In modern times the answer is a crew of workers who must be paid and managed - a nightmare to my mind. In colonial times it would have been many slaves and servants - a moral nightmare. This is a nice place to visit, but I'd rather live without servants in a modest small house where I can take care of most chores myself!