Beaver Creek Plantation
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Beaver Creek Plantation
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| Location | VA 108, Martinsville, Virginia |
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| Coordinates | 36°43′10″N 79°52′52″W / 36.71944°N 79.88111°WCoordinates: 36°43′10″N 79°52′52″W / 36.71944°N 79.88111°W |
| Area | 11.7 acres (4.7 ha) |
| Built | 1839 |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 85000984 |
| VLR # | 044-0001 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | May 09, 1985 |
| Designated VLR | April 16, 1985 |
Beaver Creek Plantation, under the ownership of George Hairston, was a large slave-holding tobacco plantation and the center of an empire in tobacco-growing and slave-trading built by the Hairston family, Scottish emigrants to Pennsylvania in the early 18th century. Located just outside today’s Martinsville, Virginia, the plantation thrived in tobacco production and textile manufacturing, as well as producing household goods and raising livestock. At one point the enslaved blacks of Beaver Creek were tending a thousand yam plants; in one day they made 660 candles.
Beaver Creek was built in 1776 by George Hairston, son of Robert Hairston and Ruth Stovall Hairston, on a 30,000-plus acre royal land grant initially purchased from Col. Abram Penn. The original house was destroyed by fire in 1837 and was rebuilt by George Hairston's son Marshall, whose profile according to family legend was incised on a window of the home when he was struck by lightning. The house was rebuilt using virgin oak from nearby Henry County forests.
Much of the plantation’s rich slave history remains intact, and stories of unusual slaves are well documented and accessible. Often noted is the tale of Sam Lion, a field hand on the plantation. Over the years, Lion had earned enough extra money to buy his own woodworking tools. However, when a new overseer asked to borrow one of the tools, Lion refused. The overseer attacked him, and Lion killed the man with a shovel he was using to chop kindling. Lion fled the plantation, and hid in a nearby forest for two months. Eventually, unwilling to go North without his family, Lion turned himself in. He was sentenced to hang, and was shot while trying to escape.
Like Lion, other slaves were able to earn small amounts of money outside of their daily duties. Ned and Clem, two wagon masters, earned money by hauling extra loads for other planters. Clem was also a beekeeper, and amassed enough savings to buy his own honey press, which cost $10 and two gallons of honey.
Although slave rebellions were typically few, Beaver Creek was almost home to such an uprising. In 1812, a slave named Tom murdered a neighbor of George Hairston’s plantation. Through his confession, Hairston discovered a plot to poison himself and neighboring slaveholders, a rebellion that would have been disguised by an expected British attack in the area.
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Wikipedia