Poplar Forest
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Poplar Forest
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Poplar Forest, designed by Thomas Jefferson
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| Location | 1548 Bateman Bridge Road, Forest, Virginia |
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| Nearest city | Lynchburg, Virginia |
| Coordinates | 37°20′53.736″N 79°15′53.8194″W / 37.34826000°N 79.264949833°WCoordinates: 37°20′53.736″N 79°15′53.8194″W / 37.34826000°N 79.264949833°W |
| Built | 1806-1826 |
| Architect | Jefferson,Thomas |
| Architectural style | Other |
| NRHP Reference # | 69000223 |
| VLR # | 009-0027 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | November 12, 1969 |
| Designated NHL | November 11, 1971 |
| Designated VLR | May 13, 1969 |
Poplar Forest is a plantation and plantation house in Forest, Bedford County, Virginia. Thomas Jefferson designed the plantation and used the property as a private retreat and a revenue-generating plantation. Jefferson inherited the property in 1773 and began designing and working on the plantation in 1806.
Slaves were present on the property from the time Jefferson inherited the plantation through when the United States officially abolished the institution; recent archaeological excavations at Poplar Forest have provided insights into both the role of slave labor as well as the slave community on the property.
Poplar Forest was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1971, and is presently operated as a historic house museum by the Corporation for Jefferson’s Poplar Forest.
The land upon which Poplar Forest was built shows archaeological evidence of having been populated by native peoples from the Paleo-Indian through Late Woodland periods. The 4,000 acre property was legally defined by a 1745 patent in which William Stith assumed ownership, but did not live on the land. He passed ownership to his daughter Elizabeth Pasteur and her cousin Peter Randolph, who maintained ownership until 1764. John Wayles purchased the original property in 1764 and slowly added an additional 819 acres prior to 1770; he was the first to use slave labor on the property.
Wayles’ daughter Martha was married to Thomas Jefferson, and the couple inherited the full 4,819 acres when Wayles passed away in 1773. The Jeffersons did not immediately continue developing Poplar Forest, nor were they frequent visitors to the property – their focus was on developing Monticello, Thomas’s political and legal career, and raising their family.Martha Jefferson passed away in 1782, and Thomas spent time away from Virginia in public service following her death. Even in Jefferson’s absence, the plantation was generating revenue from slave labor under the watch of a general steward and a team of overseers; the slave labor force at Poplar Forest produced annual tobacco and wheat crops after 1790.
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Wikipedia