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Ruffin, Edmund (1794–1865)
Edmund Ruffin was a prominent Southern nationalist, noted agriculturalist, writer and essayist, and Virginia state senator (1823–1827). After dropping out of college and serving briefly in the...
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Davis, Westmoreland (1859–1942)
Westmoreland Davis was a Democratic governor of Virginia from 1918 to 1922. During his term as governor, Davis streamlined the state's fiscal operations and reformed its penal system. An agricultural...
View ArticleLate Woodland Period (AD 900–1650)
The Late Woodland Period lasted from AD 900 until 1650. It was a time when Virginia Indian societies underwent important social and cultural transformations. It traditionally has been dated from the...
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Backcountry Frontier of Colonial Virginia
The backcountry frontier of colonial Virginia reached westward from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the farthest extent of Virginia settlement in the eighteenth century. By royal charter, the extreme...
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Plants in Early Virginia Indian Society, Domesticated
Virginia Indians began domesticating plants to be used as a food source following the Ice Age. As the climate warmed, their lives became less nomadic and the conditions improved for husbanding certain...
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Letter from John Pory to Sir Dudley Carleton (1619)
In this letter to the English aristocrat Sir Dudley Carleton, John Pory describes events in the Virginia colony, including the arrival of two ships containing the colony's first Africans and the...
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Rolfe, John (d. 1622)
John Rolfe served as secretary and recorder general of Virginia (1614–1619) and as a member of the governor's Council (1614–1622). He is best known for having married Pocahontas in 1614 and for being...
View ArticleCocke, Philip St. George (1809–1861)
Philip St. George Cocke was a wealthy plantation owner in Powhatan County, Virginia and in Mississippi, who accumulated hundreds of slaves and thousands of acres of land. He became a leading advocate...
View ArticleTobacco in Colonial Virginia
Tobacco was colonial Virginia's most successful cash crop. The tobacco that the first English settlers encountered in Virginia—the Virginia Indians' Nicotiana rustica—tasted dark and bitter to the...
View ArticleLetter from Thomas Jefferson to John Page (May 4, 1786)
In this letter to John Page, dated May 4, 1786, from Paris, France, Thomas Jefferson writes of life in France, gardening, farming, and religion.Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:29:42 EST
View ArticleExcerpt from Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book (1769)
In this excerpt from his Garden Book, dated March 14, 1769, and July 27, 1769, Thomas Jefferson notes the beginning of his gardening at Monticello, which had not yet been built. This notation marks...
View ArticleLetter from Thomas Jefferson to Charles Willson Peale (August 20, 1811)
In this letter to the painter and naturalist Charles Willson Peale, dated August 20, 1811, from Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson writes about his farming and gardening at Monticello.Thu, 06 Dec 2012...
View ArticleLetter from Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Worthington (November 29, 1825)
In this letter to the former Ohio governor Thomas Worthington, dated November 29, 1825, from Monticello, Thomas Jefferson requests cucumber seeds.Thu, 06 Dec 2012 14:06:59 EST
View Article"Monticello"; an excerpt from The Private Life of Thomas Jefferson by...
In chapter 3 of The Private Life of Thomas Jefferson by Hamilton W. Pierson (1862), Edmund Bacon, an overseer at Monticello from 1806 until 1822, tells about life at Thomas Jefferson's plantation.Wed,...
View ArticleDaniels, Edward Dwight (1828–1916)
Edward Dwight Daniels was an agricultural reformer, newspaper editor, and an active member of the Republican Party. The Massachusetts-born Daniels worked as a geologist in Wisconsin, helped mount...
View Article"An Act declaring tenants of lands or slaves in taille to hold the same in...
In "An Act declaring tenants of lands or slaves in taille to hold the same in fee simple," passed in the October 1776 session of the General Assembly, legislators abolish the feudal English property...
View ArticleJefferson, Thomas and Gardening
Thomas Jefferson's interest in gardening arose from a passionate curiosity about the natural world. From his childhood home at Shadwell, where in his early twenties Jefferson recorded that 2,500 pea...
View ArticleSandy, T. O. (1857–1919)
T. O. Sandy was Virginia's earliest agricultural extension agent. A farmer, scientist, and teacher, he opened the state's first extension office in Burkeville in 1907, serving the residents in...
View ArticleQuery XIX; an excerpt from Notes on the State of Virginia by Thomas Jefferson...
In this excerpt from Notes on the State of Virginia (1784), Thomas Jefferson explains why farming is an economically and morally superior pursuit for Virginians and Americans.Thu, 06 Feb 2014 12:51:09 EST
View Article"An act for regulating conveyances" (1785)
In "An act for regulating conveyances," passed in the October 1785 session of the General Assembly, legislators clarify the means by which land is transferred. Among other things, the act abolished the...
View ArticleEnclosure: Washington's Plans for His River, Union, and Muddy Hole Farms...
George Washington wrote these detailed instructions for three of his farms on December 10, 1799, planning for their operations several years into the future. In his plans for Muddy Hole Farm, he...
View ArticleLetter from George Washington to William Pearce (January 26, 1794)
In this routine letter to his plantation manager William Pearce, dated January 26, 1794, George Washington describes his concerns about slaves' "plots" to steal goods from his stores.Wed, 10 Sep 2014...
View ArticleAn excerpt from the diary of George Washington (January 28–31, 1760)
In these excerpts from his diary, dated January 28, 30, and 31, George Washington describes the illness and recovery of one of his slaves, known as Cupid.Thu, 11 Sep 2014 13:05:05 EST
View ArticleLetter from Anthony Whitting to George Washington (January 16, 1793)
In this letter to George Washington dated January 16, 1793, manager Anthony Whitting describes the state of affairs at the plantation and a whipping he gave to an "impudent" female slave. In his reply...
View ArticleLetter from George Washington to Anthony Whitting (December 23, 1792)
In this letter to Anthony Whitting, dated December 23, 1792, George Washington instructs Whitting to threaten to send the seamstresses at Mount Vernon, who had fallen behind in their work, to labor in...
View ArticleLetter from James Hill to George Washington (December 13, 1772)
In this letter, dated December 13, 1772, James Hill, one of the overseers of George Washington's plantations, informs Washington of the state of various stores and stock. He reports that slave children...
View ArticleLetter from George Washington to Anthony Whitting (January 20, 1793)
In this reply to Anthony Whitting, dated January 20, 1793, George Washington gives instructions for the care of his plantation and retroactively sanctions a whipping that Whitting had given an...
View ArticleLetter from George Washington to Anthony Whitting (May 19, 1793)
In this letter to Anthony Whitting, dated May 19, 1793, George Washington provides instructions for the running of his farms and tells Whitting to threaten one of the bricklaying slaves who was not...
View ArticleLetter from George Washington to William Pearce (March 30, 1794)
In this letter to his manager, William Pearce, dated March 30, 1794, George Washington asks Pearce not to let Hyland Crow, a particularly cruel overseer, inflict punishment on Washington's slaves.Tue,...
View ArticleLetter from George Washington to William Pearce (December 23, 1793)
In this weekly letter to his manager William Pearce, dated December 23, 1793, George Washington provides instructions for the care and oversight of his plantations, in particular warning Pearce that...
View ArticleCircular to William Stuart, Hiland Crow, and Henry McCoy by George Washington...
In this circular to three of his overseers, dated July 14, 1793, George Washington gives specific instructions for the care of his various farms and warns about the tendency of slaves to slack in their...
View ArticleLetter from George Washington to William Pearce (December 18, 1793)
In this letter to his manager William Pearce, dated December 18, 1793, George Washington cautions Pearce to keep a close eye on the plantationꞌs overseers. He names Crow in particular, whose propensity...
View ArticleLetter from James Hill to George Washington (August 30, 1772)
In this letter to George Washington, dated August 30, 1772, overseer James Hill details several financial transactions pertaining to Washingtonꞌs plantations, as well as other happenings around the...
View ArticleLetter from George Washington to John Hancock (December 31, 1775)
In this letter to John Hancock, George Washington, then commander in chief of the Continental Army, describes some of the financial hardships of the Revolutionary War, as well as retracts his earlier...
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Cocke, John Hartwell (1780–1866)
John Hartwell Cocke was a farmer whose plantation, Bremo, in Fluvanna County, was both architecturally and scientifically innovative. He also was a reformer who advocated temperance, the end of tobacco...
View Article"On the Beauty and Fertility of America"; chapter 14 of A Huguenot Exile in...
In "On the Beauty and Fertility of America," chapter 14 of A Huguenot Exile in Virginia, Durand de Dauphiné describes the landscape and agriculture of Virginia, habits surrounding tobacco smoking, and...
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Jefferson, Thomas (1743–1826)
Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the Virginia Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom (1786), founder of the University of Virginia (1819), governor of...
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Barbour, James (1775–1842)
James Barbour was Speaker of the House of Delegates (1809–1812), the governor of Virginia (1812–1814), a member of the U.S. Senate (1815–1825) and its president pro tempore (1819), and the secretary of...
View ArticleBarbour, B. Johnson (1821–1894)
B. Johnson Barbour was a planter, orator, rector of the University of Virginia (1866–1872), and member of the House of Delegates (1879–1880). Born at his family's large Orange County estate, Barbour...
View ArticleColored Farmers' Alliance and Cooperative Union of Virginia, The
The Colored Farmers' Alliance and Cooperative Union was probably the largest organization of African Americans in nineteenth-century Virginia other than the loose associations of Baptist churches. It...
View ArticleLetter from Thomas Jefferson to Richard Richardson (February 17, 1800)
In this letter, dated February 17, 1800, Thomas Jefferson writes to Richard Richardson, his bricklayer and overseer, with questions about and instructions for managing the day-to-day operations at...
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Randolph, Thomas Mann (1768–1828)
Thomas Mann Randolph was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1803–1807) and a three-term governor (1819–1822). He also served in the Senate of Virginia (1793–1794) and the House of Delegates...
View ArticleLetter from George Washington to Robert Lewis (August 17, 1799)
In this letter to Robert Lewis, dated August 17, 1799, George Washington asks for advice on which of his properties he should turn into plantations to avoid selling enslaved people to stave off...
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