Brookfield was a plantation of about 2,000 acres in
Henrico County, Virginia
Henrico County , officially the County of Henrico, is a County (United States), county located in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population wa ...
, in the late 18th and 19th centuries. It was first owned by the Prosser family and it is where
Gabriel Prosser
Gabriel's Rebellion was a planned slave rebellion in the Richmond, Virginia, area in the summer of 1800. Information regarding the revolt was leaked before its execution, and Gabriel, an enslaved blacksmith who planned the event, and twenty-five o ...
planned Gabriel's Rebellion of 1800.
It is one of several lost historical buildings of the county, and it is near
Bon Air, Virginia
Bon Air is a census-designated place (CDP) in Chesterfield County, Virginia, Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States. The population was 18,022 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The community is considered a suburb of the indep ...
and
Bryan Park in
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...
.
Gabriel's Rebellion
Gabriel Prosser
Gabriel's Rebellion was a planned slave rebellion in the Richmond, Virginia, area in the summer of 1800. Information regarding the revolt was leaked before its execution, and Gabriel, an enslaved blacksmith who planned the event, and twenty-five o ...
, a black preacher, planned a slave rebellion for 1800 that was named after him Gabriel's Rebellion. The plan was thwarted due to a "torrential thunderstorm" and when two enslaved men from the Sheppard family of nearby Meadow Farm sounded the alarm of the upcoming plot. Gabriel and other key individuals who planned the rebellion were tried and hanged.
The plantation
Brookfield was located near Brook Creek and about six miles north of Richmond.
The main house was initially a large two-story frame building with a 5 bay structure and one-story wings.
There were large porches on the front and back of the house. Behind the main house were a kitchen, a weaving house, two barns, sheds, stables, and a blacksmith shop.
It was replaced in the mid-19th century with a "grander" residence that burned down in 1910. The replacement was a two-story frame building. It had
Corinthian column
The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order, which was the earliest, ...
s and a
hexastyle pedimented portico. Two bronze lions that had been on either side of the front steps are now in the yard of a house on Chamberlayne Avenue.
Ownership
Thomas Prosser
Brookfield was first owned by Thomas Prosser,
who was a tobacco planter with 53 enslaved people, member of the
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...
, and a partner of Alexander Front and Company, a trading firm in Richmond. He was also a vestryman at the
St. John's Episcopal Church.
He had a quick temper and in the 1760s he was ejected from the House of Burgesses.
represented him and was able to have his seat reinstated. He and his wife Ann had two children, Elizabeth and a much younger Thomas Henry who was born in 1776. Elizabeth married Thomas Goode in 1777.
Prosser died in 1798 and Thomas Henry Prosser took over managing the Brookfield plantation.
Other owners
Between 1806 and 1815, it was sold to Benjamin Sheppard. The house was then owned by the Dicken family.
References
{{Authority control
Plantations in Virginia
Houses in Henrico County, Virginia
Tobacco plantations in the United States