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30-478: Sir William Berkeley, who served several terms, is perhaps the best-known of Virginia's colonial governors. Contrary to popular belief the well-known Berkeley Plantation in nearby Charles City County was not named in his honor. Today, a section of the land that formed the core of Green Spring Plantation is part of the Colonial National Historical Park . It also lends its name to the section of

60-519: A central window directly above the door. These windows are double sashed with 12 panes per sash. An entablature with dentil moldings support the gabled roof, which is pierced by three dormer windows and two large brick chimneys. The grounds include a two-story gabled guest house, with symmetrical one-story wings on each side. In 1862, during the American Civil War and while the Union Army of

90-639: A day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.". Because of this, the Berkeley Plantation had one of the first recorded celebrations of Thanksgiving in the United States . During the Indian Massacre of 1622 , nine of the settlers at Berkeley Hundred were killed, as well as about a third of the entire population of the Virginia Colony. The Berkeley Hundred site and other outlying locations were abandoned as

120-649: A flow "so very cold that 'twas dangerous drinking the water thereof in Summer-time," wrote a visitor in the 1680s." The plantation house at Green Spring was built in 1645. The plantation originally encompassed a 2,090-acre (850 ha) experimental farm . Seeking alternative export products to supplement tobacco , which had become the Colony's mainstay, Green Spring produced flax, fruits , potash , rice , silk , and spirits, which were shipped to markets in North America,

150-522: A group of 38 English settlers arrived at Berkeley Hundred , about 8,000 acres (32 km ) on the north bank of the James River near Herring Creek in an area then known as Charles Cittie (sic). It was named for one of the original founders, Richard Berkeley, a member of the Berkeley family of Gloucestershire, England. It was about 20 miles upstream from Jamestown , where the first permanent settlement of

180-674: A hill overlooking the James River in 1726. Harrison's son, Benjamin Harrison V , a signer of the American Declaration of Independence and a governor of Virginia , was born at Berkeley Plantation, as was his son William Henry Harrison , a war hero in the Battle of Tippecanoe , governor of Indiana Territory , and ninth president of the United States . Berkeley would later earn a distinction shared only with Peacefield in Quincy, Massachusetts , as

210-438: Is also a small family cemetery on the property. Among those buried here are Benjamin Harrison V, Grace Jamieson, and Malcolm Jamieson. Reconstructed slave quarters were built on the property in 2018 by the producers of Harriet , a movie about Harriet Tubman that was filmed in part at the plantation. The original quarters were no longer extant at that point. Plantation owner Benjamin Harrison V held 110 people in slavery at

240-820: Is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms. Since the ratification of the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1951, no person may be elected president more than twice, and no one who has served more than two years of a term to which someone else was elected may be elected more than once. Four presidents died in office of natural causes (William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor , Warren G. Harding , and Franklin D. Roosevelt), four were assassinated ( Abraham Lincoln , James A. Garfield , William McKinley , and John F. Kennedy ), and one resigned ( Richard Nixon , facing impeachment and removal from office). John Tyler

270-495: Is therefore counted as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, giving rise to the discrepancy between the number of presidencies and the number of individuals who have served as president. The presidency of William Henry Harrison , who died 31 days after taking office in 1841, was the shortest in American history. Franklin D. Roosevelt served the longest, over twelve years, before dying early in his fourth term in 1945. He

300-411: The 1st Congress convened, political factions began rallying around dominant Washington administration officials, such as Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson . Concerned about the capacity of political parties to destroy the fragile unity holding the nation together, Washington remained unaffiliated with any political faction or party throughout his eight-year presidency. He was, and remains,

330-530: The Colony of Virginia was established on May 14, 1607. The group's London Company charter required that the day of arrival be observed as a day of thanksgiving to God. On that first day, Captain John Woodlief held a service pursuant to the charter which specified, "Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually keept holy as

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360-707: The United States , indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College . The officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces . Since the office was established in 1789, 45 men have served in 46 presidencies. The first president, George Washington , won a unanimous vote of the Electoral College. Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms and

390-639: The West Indies , Great Britain , and Holland . The plantation was owned by Governor William Berkeley until his death in 1677. When Berkeley's widow Lady Frances married Philip Ludwell , ownership passed to him, and then to his son Philip Ludwell II and grandson Philip Ludwell III . On March 13, 1683, the Council determined that Greenspring windmill was to be the site of the building of the King's storehouse. Green Spring Plantation witnessed many historic events, including

420-628: The Green Spring house’s architectural legacy.” Berkeley Plantation Berkeley Plantation , one of the first plantations in America, comprises about 1,000 acres (400 ha) on the banks of the James River on State Route 5 in Charles City County, Virginia . Berkeley Plantation was originally called Berkeley Hundred , named after the Berkeley Company of England. In 1726, it became

450-515: The Potomac was camped at Berkeley Plantation, Confederates under General J.E.B. Stuart shot a cannonball into the side of the house from the nearby James River . The cannonball was never removed, and is still visible today. It is indicated with a small marker. Presidents of the United States The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of

480-433: The United States and other parts of the world. The architecture is original, and the house has been filled with antique furniture and furnishings that date from the period when it was built. The grounds, too, have been restored, and cuttings from the boxwood gardens are available as living souvenirs for its visitors. Berkeley is still a working farm; corn, soybeans, wheat, tomatoes, and other vegetables are grown here. There

510-591: The ancestral home for two United States presidents, though this connection is tenuous, as William Henry Harrison's grandson, the 23rd president, Benjamin Harrison , was born and reared in North Bend, Ohio , and his father, John Scott Harrison , was born in Vincennes, Indiana , while his father (William Henry Harrison) was the first territorial governor of the Indiana Territory . The first 10 U.S. presidents were on

540-581: The beginnings of slavery in Virginia, Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, the Battle of Green Spring during the American Revolutionary War in 1781, and the emancipation of its slaves in 1804, by the will of William Ludwell Lee, son of William Lee . In 1862, the property was also involved in the Battle of Williamsburg during the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War . A second mansion on

570-483: The colonists withdrew to Jamestown and other more secure points. In 1634, Charles Cittie became part of the first eight shires of Virginia , as Charles City County , one of the oldest in the United States , and is located along Virginia State Route 5 , which runs parallel to the river's northern borders past sites of many of the James River Plantations between the colonial capital city of Williamsburg (now

600-624: The home of the Harrison family of Virginia , after Benjamin Harrison IV located there and built one of the first three-story brick mansions in Virginia . It is the ancestral home of two presidents of the United States : William Henry Harrison , who was born there in 1773 and his grandson Benjamin Harrison . It is now a museum property, open to the public. Among the many American "firsts" that occurred at Berkeley Plantation are: On December 4, 1619,

630-513: The land was worn out after more than two centuries of mono-culture tobacco and cotton crops and the plantation was drifting towards financial ruin. After 150 years of Harrison family ownership plantation was foreclosed on by a local bank and the family evicted. Benjamin Harrison VII was the last Harrison to own Berkeley. During the American Civil War , Union troops occupied Berkeley Plantation, and President Abraham Lincoln twice visited there in

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660-435: The multi-use Virginia Capital Trail that extends from Governor Berkeley's capital at Jamestown, past many former great plantations (including Berkeley plantation) to the current state capital at Richmond, Virginia. The name Green Spring Plantation originated from the natural spring on the site, which continues over 350 years later to produce huge quantities of very beautifully clear, ultra cold water. The Green Spring produced

690-463: The property enjoying the Harrison family hospitality at some point: George Washington , John Adams , Thomas Jefferson , James Madison , James Monroe , John Quincy Adams , Andrew Jackson , Martin Van Buren , William Henry Harrison (Who was born on the property), and John Tyler who lived nearby are all known to have visited Berkeley. By the time Benjamin Harrison VII inherited Berkeley in 1799,

720-463: The property in 1907. In 1925, his son Malcolm inherited the property, expending large sums of money to turn the ruined main house into a livable and stately home for himself and his bride Grace Eggleston. The project took over a decade and the mansion was finally occupied by the Jamisons in 1938. The ground floor of the mansion was turned into a museum in the 1960s. Today the house attracts visitors from

750-660: The property of Theodorick Bland of Westover . A portion of the Berkeley Hundred patent was purchased from descendant Giles Bland by Benjamin Harrison III . His son Benjamin Harrison IV built the three-story brick mansion that became the seat of the Harrison family , one of the First Families of Virginia . Using bricks fired on the Berkeley plantation, Benjamin Harrison IV built a Georgian-style two-story brick mansion on

780-484: The site of Colonial Williamsburg ) and the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia at Richmond . In 1636 William Tucker, Maurice Thompson, George Thompson, William Harris, Thomas Deacon, James Stone, Cornelius Lloyd of London, merchants and Jeremiah Blackman of London, mariner, and their associates and company patented the 8,000 acres known as Berkeley Hundred. After several decades, the site of Berkeley Hundred became

810-777: The site was burned during the Civil War. In the 21st century, about 200 acres (81 ha) of the original plantation are preserved by the National Park Service (NPS) as part of the Colonial National Historical Park , which acquired the property in 1966. The site includes archaeological and architectural remnants of the manor house and ancillary structures. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 29, 1978. It has been argued by historian Virginia B. Price that numerous Virginia county courthouses, including Hanover, King William, and Nelson, are, “arguably,

840-488: The summer of 1862 to confer with Gen. George B. McClellan . The Harrisons were unable to regain possession of the plantation after the war, and it was rented out by the bank from time to time to tenant farmers and the mansion was eventually used as a barn, falling into such disrepair that it was uninhabitable. John Jamieson , a lumber tycoon who as a youth had been at Berkeley as a drummer boy in McClellan's army, purchased

870-426: The time of his death in 1791. The main house is the centerpiece of ten acres of formal gardens and parterres . The house is surrounded by boxwood hedges forming allées . Large pillars with decorative spires support large hinged gates. The house is constructed of red brick with thin mortar joints. The two-story building's main entrance is in the center of the house, with two symmetrical windows on either side and

900-455: Was the first vice president to assume the presidency during a presidential term, and set the precedent that a vice president who does so becomes the fully functioning president with their own administration. Throughout most of its history, American politics has been dominated by political parties . The Constitution is silent on the issue of political parties, and at the time it came into force in 1789, no organized parties existed. Soon after

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