Tuckahoe Plantation
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Tuckahoe plantation's southern wing
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Location | SE of Manakin near jct. of Rtes. 650 and 647, near Manakin, Virginia |
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Coordinates | 37°34′13.7″N 77°39′11.4″W / 37.570472°N 77.653167°WCoordinates: 37°34′13.7″N 77°39′11.4″W / 37.570472°N 77.653167°W |
Area | 568 acres (230 ha) |
Built | 1712 |
Architect | William Randolph |
Architectural style | Georgian, Other |
NRHP Reference # | 68000049 |
VLR # | 037-0033 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | November 22, 1968 |
Designated NHLD | August 11, 1969 |
Designated VLR | November 5, 1968 |
Tuckahoe, also known as Tuckahoe Plantation, is located on Route 650 near Manakin, Virginia overlapping both Goochland and Henrico counties, six miles from the town of the same name. Built in the first half of the 18th century, it is a well-preserved example of a colonial plantation house, and is particularly distinctive as a colonial prodigy house. Thomas Jefferson is also recorded as having spent some of his childhood here. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1969.
Construction of the home began by Thomas Randolph around 1714. William Randolph, Thomas' son, built a two-story, four room home in 1733 around the existing structure. This wing features pine and black walnut paneling with exquisite carvings and moldings. William then added a center hall and south wing, creating a unique "H"-shaped, which were completed by 1740. William and his wife, Maria Judith Page, had three children, two daughters and a son, but his wife died in 1744. William Randolph's cousin Jane married Peter Jefferson, and they were close friends. Before William Randolph died in 1745, he added a codicil to his will asking that Peter Jefferson come to Tuckahoe Plantation and care for his three orphaned children until his son Thomas Mann Randolph came of age. The Jeffersons moved from Shadwell in Charlottesville to Tuckahoe Plantation with their four daughters and two-year-old son Thomas. The Jeffersons lived in the "H" shape home with their own five children and the three Randolph orphans until 1752. During the seven years of the Jefferson residency, young Thomas was tutored in a one-room schoolhouse with his sisters and Randolph cousins. Jefferson directed the activities of the plantation and its seven overseers, "retaining a connection to the estate" even after he returned to his own plantation of Shadwell.