Kippax Plantation was located on the south bank of the

Appomattox River The Appomattox River is a tributary of the James River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 in central and eastern Virginia, named for the ...

in what is today the City of Hopewell in southeast

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. Kippax Plantation was the home of Colonel

Robert Bolling Robert Bolling (December 26, 1646July 17, 1709) was an English-born merchant, planter and politician. and the founder of the Bolling family of Virginia, one of the First Families of Virginia, with at least fifteen descendants (including two of h ...

(1646–1709). Bolling married

Jane Rolfe Jane Rolfe (October 10, 1650 – January 27, 1676) was the granddaughter of Pocahontas and English colonist John Rolfe (credited with introducing a strain of tobacco for export by the struggling Virginia Colony). Her husband was Colonel Robert B ...

, who was the granddaughter of

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, also known as Matoaka and Rebecca Rolfe; 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. S ...

and

John Rolfe John Rolfe ( – March 1622) was an English explorer, farmer and merchant. He is best known for being the husband of Pocahontas and the first settler in the colony of Virginia to successfully cultivate a tobacco crop for export. He played a ...

. Their only child,

John Bolling John Bolling (January 27, 1676April 20, 1729) was an American merchant, planter, politician and military officer in the colony of Virginia, who served several terms in the House of Burgesses, all representing Henrico County. The earliest of four ...

was born at Kippax in 1676, and settled nearby at Cobbs Plantation, just west of Point of Rocks across the Appomattox River in what is now Chesterfield County. While Jane's father

Thomas Rolfe Thomas Rolfe (January 30, 1615 – ) was the only child of Pocahontas and her English husband, John Rolfe. His maternal grandfather was Chief Powhatan, the leader of the Powhatan tribe in Virginia. Early life Thomas Rolfe was born in the English ...

(1615–1675) never lived at Kippax Plantation, it is believed that he was buried there, as were Robert and Jane. Kippax Plantation is considered to be a well-preserved archaeological site that is also well documented. Archaeologist Donald W. Linebaugh, of the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

, located the remains of Col. Bolling's house in Hopewell, Virginia in 2002. Most of the current digging is performed at the site of the unearthed residence. Research by graduate students from the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...

, headed by Donald W. Linebaugh, have found the remains of at least four separate structures spanning the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries at the Kippax site. These structures have the potential to answer important research questions regarding the history of early trade between Europeans and Native Americans, the lives of the

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

slaves who lived there, and the cultural interaction between these groups.

The Archaeological Conservancy The Archaeological Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that acquires and preserves archaeological sites in the United States. Whereas nearly every other nation protects all archaeological sites within its borders as part of its nati ...

recently purchased the site of Kippax Plantation to protect it from development. Members of the Archaeological Conservancy are in the process of raising the $205,000 needed for the purchase.

References

External links

Historic Hopewell Foundation
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Colony of Virginia Plantations in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Hopewell, Virginia Bolling family (Virginia) Rolfe family (Virginia) Houses in Hopewell, Virginia {{HopewellVA-NRHP-stub