Lower Brandon Plantation

Brandon
(U.S. National Historic Landmark)
Brandon Plantation
Location:	Burrowsville, Prince George County, Virginia
Coordinates:	37°15′27.1440″N, 76°59′36.2039″W
Built/Founded:	c. 1765
Architect:	unknown
Architectural style(s):	English Palladian
Added to NRHP:	November 11, 1969
NRHP Reference#:	69000271 [1]
Governing body:	Private

Lower Brandon Plantation (or simply Brandon or Brandon Plantation and initially known as Martin's Brandon) is located on the south shore of the James River in present-day Prince George County, Virginia.

It was established in 1616 by Captain John Martin, one of the original leaders of the Virginia Colony at Jamestown in 1607. The plantation was owned by the Harrison family from 1700-1926. Restored by the Daniels family in the early 20th century, it is both a National Historical Landmark open to tours and one of America's oldest continuous farming operations.

History

Brandon Plantation was part of a 1616 land grant of approximately  acres ( km²) on the south bank of the James River to Captain John Martin (1560-1632). Captain Martin was one of the original colonists and a member of the first Council in the spring of 1607, when Jamestown was first established.

Martin's new plantation built on the 1616 land grant was initially named "Martin's Brandon", apparently incorporating the family name of his wife, Mary (née Brandon) Martin, daughter of Robert Brandon, a prominent English goldsmith and supplier to Queen Elizabeth I of England. They had been married in 1586.

In 1619, Martin's Brandon was one of the plantations represented when what became the House of Burgesses, the first representative legislative body in the English colonies, met at Jamestown. The representatives of Martin's Brandon were Thomas Davis and Robert Stacy.

During the Indian Massacre of 1622 which occurred on Good Friday, March 22, 1622, there were 7 deaths recorded at Martin's Brandon, including one woman and two boys. 347 deaths were recorded during the coordinated attacks along both shores of the James River, from the mouth of the river at Newport News Point on Hampton Roads, west to Falling Creek. [1]

Captain John Martin died at Martin's Brandon Plantation in 1632. His grandson, Captain Robert Bargrave, inherited the plantation on Martin's death. In 1637, merchants John Sadler and Richard Quiney and mariner William Barber, bought Martin's Brandon. They and their heirs farmed it successfully until 1720 when it was sold to Nathaniel Harrison (1677-1727). (Richard Quiney's brother Thomas was married to William Shakespeare's daughter Judith).

After Nathaniel's premature death in 1727 it went into the hands of his son Nathaniel Harrison II, 1703-1791. Sometime before his death in 1791, Brandon came under the possession of Revolutionary War Colonel Benjamin Harrison, 1743-1807. At his death, the property was divided between his sons, and Upper Brandon Plantation was created.

Brandon Plantation (aka Lower Brandon) remained in the Harrison family until 1926, when it was acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Daniel. The Daniels undertook the restoration of the house and grounds. Brandon is a National Historical Landmark. The manor house, furnished by the Daniels with 1760s era English and American furnishings, is open to tours. Their descendants continue to farm it in modern times.  acres ( km²) are cultivated with soybeans, wheat and barley. The agricultural activities, representing one of America's oldest continuous farming operations.

Notes

External links

• Brandon Plantation

U.S. National Register of Historic Places
History of the National Register of Historic Places · Property types · Historic district · Contributing property
List of entries National Park Service · National Historic Landmarks · National Battlefields · National Historic Sites · National Historic Parks · National Memorials · National Monuments

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