Flowerdew Hundred Plantation dates to 1618/19 with the patent by Sir

George Yeardley Sir George Yeardley () was a Planter class, planter and colonial governor of the colony of Virginia. He was also among the first slaveowners in Colonial history of the United States, Colonial America. A survivor of the Virginia Company of London's ...

, the Governor and Captain General of Virginia, of on the south side of the

James River The James River is a river in Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows from the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson Rivers in Botetourt County U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowli ...

. Yeardley probably named the

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

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 Temperance Flowerdew, Lady Yeardley ( – )Dorman, John Frederick, ''Adventurers of Purse and Person'', 4th ed., v.3, pp861-872 was an early settler of the Jamestown Colony and a key member of the Flowerdew family, significant participants in the ...

, came from English gentry in the County of Norfolk.) A "

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

" 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.

History

Flowerdew Hundred Virginia historical marker K-214 20250216 125345

Sometimes written as "Flowerdieu", the plantation survived the

Indian massacre of 1622 The Indian massacre of 1622 took place in the English Colony of Virginia on March 22, 1621/22 ( O.S./N.S.). The English explorer John Smith, though he was not an eyewitness, wrote in his ''History of Virginia'' that warriors of the Powhatan "cam ...

with only six deaths, remaining an active and fortified private plantation unlike many others in the area, such as the Citie of

Henricus The "Citie of Henricus"—also known as Henricopolis, Henrico Town or Henrico—was a settlement in Virginia founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at James ...

and

Martin's Hundred Martin's Hundred was an early 17th-century plantation located along about of the north shore of the James River in the Virginia Colony east of Jamestown in the southeastern portion of present-day James City County, Virginia. The 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 The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. Its defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single central vertical post. The vertical post is supported by four quarter bars. These ar ...

. 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 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 Benedict Arnold (#Brandt, Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of ...

. 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 Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, setting it afire. The Plantation was re-formed again through the work of John Vaughn Willcox, a Petersburg merchant. He married the last Poythress heiress and bought up the surrounding tracts that were part of the original land grant that had been sold off during the 18th century. In 1804 they built a new farmhouse on the high ridge overlooking the fertile bottom lands along the James, but maintained their primary residence in nearby Petersburg. The Civil War came to Flowerdew in June 1864 when the Commanding General of the Armies of the United States

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

ordered his men to cross the James River in an effort to outflank Gen.

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

and capture the City of Petersburg and its rail hub that was vital to the Confederate war effort. In support of the Overland Campaign, the Corps of Engineers, in a remarkable feat of construction, built a

pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, is a bridge that uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the support ...

across the James in one evening, setting a record for the longest floating bridge ever built. Grant's Crossing from Weyanoke to Flowerdew (or Wilcox Landing as it was then known) held this record until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The Army of the Potomac with three corps and a supply train crossed the river in about three days heading for

City Point City Point of CityPoint may refer to: United Kingdom * CityPoint, an office tower in London, England United States * City Point (New Haven), a neighborhood in New Haven, Connecticut * City Point, a section of the South Boston area in Boston, Massa ...

to begin the

Siege of Petersburg The Richmond–Petersburg campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War. Although it is more popularly known as the siege of Petersburg, it was not a c ...

. The site of the pontoon bridge was found again in 1986 by Eugene Prince and Taft Kiser. Using Prince's Principle, a simple 35 mm camera, a cypress tree on the riverbank, and an Andrew Joseph Russell photograph taken in 1864, they were able to place the bridge into the modern landscape. A dead limb on a cypress tree in the Gardner photograph was still present 122 years later and confirmed the location as the site of the crossing. The old Willcox house was torn down in 1955 though a magnolia planted in 1840 still survives in the yard of the large

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...

that was built on its former site in the late 20th century. The bald cypress tree that anchored the great pontoon bridge also remains. In 1978, a commemorative windmill of English post design was built on the farm by English Millwright Derrick Ogden. The windmill has since been removed from the property. Over the years the name has been spelled as Fleur de, Flowerdieu, Flower de and Flourdy Hundred. Other names for the property include Piersey or Peircey's Hundred, Selden's ( Selden family), Hood's, and Bellevue. It is listed on Virginia's Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, Civil War Overland Campaign Lee-Grant Trail, and the National Register of Historic Places. Flowerdew Hundred Plantation is currently owned by local businessman and former

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

driver Jeff Oakley.

Archaeology

The original land grant of 1,000 acres contains over 60 archaeological sites ranging from archaic Native American encampments to twentieth century homesteads. Registered sites include 44PG64 (Stone House excavation); 44PG65 (Fortified Area); 44PG113 (Selden House sites) and 44PG98 (Flowerdew Towne/Ferry Complex). Archaeological investigations began at Flowerdew in the late 1960s and continued through 1995, when archaeologist James Deetz led the final excavation within the original limits of the fortified area. The excavations yielded more than 500,000 artifacts, all of which are currently housed at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. One of many notable artifacts is the Prince of Orange medallion, which was minted in 1615. Three other such medallions have been found, including one at Historic Jamestowne, and in a Native American grave at Burr's Hill, Rhode Island. In addition, one medallion is held by the British Museum.

Foundation

In 1975, David A. Harrison III, then owner of Flowerdew Hundred, created the Flowerdew Hundred Foundation. The Foundation operated a museum and conducted tours of the plantation and reconstructed windmill until 2007. The windmill was donated to the American Wind Center and Museum in Lubbock, Texas. It was dismantled and moved to Lubbock in 2010. The Foundation closed its doors on October 12, 2007. After Harrison's death the plantation was sold.

References

Sources

*Dawson, Henry B., ''Battles of the United States'', (Vol. I. New York. 1858). *Deetz, James, ''Flowerdew Hundred: the Archaeology of a Virginia Plantation 1619-1864''. (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1993). *Frassanito, William A., ''Grant and Lee, the Virginia Campaigns, 1864-1865'' (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1983). *Hannum, Warren T., "The Crossing of the James River in 1864," ''The Military Engineer.'' 1932. Vol. XV. No. 81. P. 229-237. *Hatch, Charles E., ''The First Seventeen Years: Virginia, 1607-1624'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1957). *Huston, James A. "Grant's Crossing of the James" (''The Military Engineer''. 1953. Vol. XLV, No. 303. P. 18-22). *Jester, A., ed., ''Adventures of Purse and Person, Virginia 1607-1624/5'' (Alexandria: Order of First Families of Virginia, 1987). *Hume, Ivor Noël, ''The Virginia Adventure''. (New York, Alfred A. Knopf. 1994). *Prince, Eugene. ''Antiquity''. (March, 1988. Vol. 62, No. 234. P. 113-116). *Prince, Eugene. "Photography for discovery and scale by superimposing old photographs on the present-day scene." '' Antiquity.'' 1988. Vol. 62, No. 234. P. 113-116.

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