Flowerdew Hundred Plantation
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Flowerdew Hundred Plantation
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Wilcox House at Flowerdew Hundred, built 1804, demolished 1955.
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| Nearest city | Garysville, Virginia |
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| Coordinates | 37°17′46″N 77°06′15″W / 37.29611°N 77.10417°WCoordinates: 37°17′46″N 77°06′15″W / 37.29611°N 77.10417°W |
| Area | 1,400 acres (570 ha) |
| NRHP Reference # | 75002030 |
| VLR # | 074-0006 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | August 1, 1975 |
| Designated VLR | May 20, 1975 |
Flowerdew Hundred Plantation dates to 1618/19 with the patent by Sir George Yeardley, the Governor and Captain General of Virginia, of 1,000 acres (400 ha) on the south side of the James River. Yeardley probably named the plantation after his wife's wealthy father, Anthony Flowerdew, just as he named another plantation "Stanley Hundred" after his wife's wealthy mother, Martha Stanley. (Yeardley's wife, Temperance Flowerdew, came from English gentry in the County of Norfolk.) A "hundred" was historically a division of a shire or county. With a population of about 30, the plantation was economically successful with thousands of pounds of tobacco produced along with corn, fish and livestock. Sir George paid 120 pounds (possibly a hogshead of tobacco) to build the first windmill in British America.
Today, Flowerdew Hundred plantation is a private residence.
The plantation survived the Indian massacre of 1622 with only six deaths, remaining an active and fortified private plantation unlike many others in the area, such as the Citie of Henricus and Martin's Hundred, that were abandoned. The first windmill erected in English North America was built at Flowerdew Hundred by 1621, and was an English post mill. In 1624, Abraham Piersey, Cape Merchant of the Virginia Company, purchased Flowerdew Hundred renaming it Piersey's Hundred. Piersey’s Stone House was the first home with a permanent foundation in the colony. The 1624 Muster lists approximately sixty occupants at the settlement, including some of the first Africans in Virginia.
Throughout the seventeenth century, Flowerdew Hundred continued to prosper with the establishment of a secondary settlement. In 1683, with the passage of the king’s Advancement of Trade Act, Flowerdew Towne was formed down river, but it was not very successful within the James River planter economy. Sometime after 1720, a ferry ran from Flowerdew Hundred across the stretch of the James known as "Three Mile Reach" to the north bank of the James. An ordinary or tavern was eventually built there for the convenience of the passengers.
Part of the old Hundred was acquired by the Joshua Poythress and passed through several of his descendants also named Joshua Poythress. The property was shelled during the 1781 campaign of Gen. Benedict Arnold. He ordered Lt. Col. Simcoe and some Queen’s Rangers to spike the guns near Hood’s fort on the eastern edge of the property and then continued to the capital of Richmond, setting it afire.
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Wikipedia