View source for Lower Brandon Plantation

{{short description|Historic house in Virginia, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox NRHP
| name                           = Brandon
| nrhp_type                      = nhl
| designated_other1              = Virginia Landmarks Register
| designated_other1_date         = September 9, 1969, December 5, 2007<ref name=register>{{cite web |title=Virginia Landmarks Register |url=http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/register_counties_cities.htm |publisher=Virginia Department of Historic Resources |accessdate=5 June 2013}}</ref>
| designated_other1_number       = 074-0002
| designated_other1_num_position = bottom
| image                          = Brandon, State Route 611, Prince George vicinity (Prince George County, Virginia).jpg
| caption                        = Brandon
| location                       = [[Burrowsville, Virginia|Burrowsville]], [[Prince George County, Virginia]]
| coordinates                    = {{coord|37|15|27.1|N|76|59|36.2|W|display=inline,title}}
| area                           =
| locmapin                       = Virginia#USA
| built                          = c. 1765
| architect                      = unknown
| architecture                   = English [[Palladian]]
| designated_nrhp_type           = April 15, 1970<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=854&ResourceType=Building |title=Brandon |accessdate=2008-04-25 |work=National Historic Landmark summary listing |publisher=National Park Service |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229084846/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=854&ResourceType=Building |archive-date=2007-12-29 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| added                          = November 11, 1969<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2006a}}</ref>
| refnum                         = 69000271
}}
'''Lower Brandon Plantation''' (or simply '''Brandon''' or '''Brandon Plantation''' and initially known as '''Martin's Brandon''') is located on the south shore of  the [[James River (Virginia)|James River]] in present-day [[Prince George County, Virginia]].

The [[plantations in the American South|plantation]] is an active farm and was tended perhaps from 1607 on, and more clearly from 1614 on, making it one of the longest-running agricultural enterprises in the United States. It has an unusual brick [[Plantation house in the Southern United States|mansion]] in the style of [[Palladio]]'s "Roman Country House" completed in the 1760s, and was perhaps designed by [[Thomas Jefferson]].<ref name="nrhpinv2"/>

The Virginia plantation was established in 1616 by [[John Martin (Jamestown)|Captain John Martin]], one of the original leaders of the [[Virginia Colony]] at [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]] in 1607. The plantation was owned by the [[Harrison family]] for over two centuries, from 1700&ndash;1926. Restored by [[Robert Williams Daniel]] in the early 20th century, it is a [[National Historical Landmark]].

==History==
Brandon Plantation was part of a 1616 land grant of approximately {{convert|7000|acre|km2|0}} on the south bank of the James River to [[John Martin (Jamestown)|Captain John Martin]] (1560&ndash;1632). Captain Martin was one of the original colonists and a member of the first Council in the spring of 1607, when [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]] was established.

Martin's new plantation built on the 1616 land grant was initially named "Martin's Brandon", apparently incorporating the family name of his wife, Mary Martin (née Brandon), daughter of [[Robert Brandon]], a prominent English goldsmith and supplier to Queen [[Elizabeth I of England]]. They married in 1586.

In 1619, Martin's Brandon was one of the plantations represented when what became the [[House of Burgesses]], the first representative legislative body in the English colonies, met at Jamestown. The representatives of Martin's Brandon were Thomas Davis and Robert Stacy.

During the [[Indian Massacre of 1622]] which occurred on [[Good Friday]], March 22, 1622, there were 7 deaths recorded at Martin's Brandon, including one woman and two boys. 347 deaths were recorded during the coordinated attacks along both shores of the James River, from the mouth of the river at Newport News Point on [[Hampton Roads]], west to [[Falling Creek (James River tributary)|Falling Creek]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070403133147/http://www.jamestowne.org/massacre.htm]

Captain John Martin died at Martin's Brandon Plantation in 1632. His grandson, Captain Robert Bargrave, inherited the plantation on Martin's death. In 1637, merchants John Sadler and Richard Quiney and mariner William Barker, who patented the nearby [[Merchant's Hope]] plantation, bought Martin's Brandon. They and their heirs farmed it until 1720 when it was sold to Nathaniel Harrison (1677&ndash;1727).

After Nathaniel's premature death in 1727, it passed to his son [[Nathaniel Harrison II]] (1703&ndash;1791) who built the current manor house around 1765. Brandon then came into the possession of [[American Revolutionary War]] [[Colonel]] Benjamin Harrison (1743&ndash;1807). At his death, the property was divided between his two sons, and [[Upper Brandon Plantation]] was created.
[[File:Lower Brandon on James River, Virginia (NYPL b12647398-62895).tiff|thumb|left|upright=1.4|1898 postcard]] In 1824 tax records show that Brandon had 93 slaves and Upper Brandon had 94. 
Brandon Plantation (aka Lower Brandon) remained in the Harrison family until 1926, when it was acquired by [[Robert Williams Daniel]], a [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] banker. The Daniels undertook the restoration of the house and grounds and purchased several adjacent tracts of land that were part of the original land grant that had been separated from the estate over the previous three centuries. U.S. Congressman [[Robert W. Daniel, Jr.]] (1936&ndash;2012) inherited the property from his parents.<ref name="nrhpinv2"/>

Brandon was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1969,<ref name="nris"/> and was further declared a U.S. [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1985.<ref name="nhlsum"/><ref name="nrhpinv2">{{citation |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Brandon, Brandon Plantation "Lower Brandon" |url={{NHLS url|id=69000271}} |format=pdf |date=October 17, 1974 |author=James Dillon |publisher=National Park Service}} and {{NHLS url|id=69000271|title=''Accompanying four photos, interior and exterior, from 1969 and 1974''|photos=y}}&nbsp;{{small|(32&nbsp;KB)}}</ref><ref name="nrhpinv_va">{{Citation|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Brandon|url=http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/PrinceGeorge/074-0002_Brandon_1969_Final_Nomination.pdf |date=July 24, 1969 |author=Staff, Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission, James W. Moody, Jr., Director |publisher=National Park Service}} (at Virginia DHR, includes map of the plantation)</ref>

The restored manor house was furnished by the Daniels with 1760s era English and American furnishings. Brandon is a working farm and the agricultural enterprise is one of the oldest continuous farming operations in the United States.

The 4487.5-acre property was sold at auction by the estate of Robert W. Daniel, Jr., on 23 June 2013.<ref name="auction">{{Cite web|title=Land and Farm|url=http://www.landandfarm.com/property/4487.5_Acres_in_Surry_County_Virginia-696059/}}</ref> In late 2013 the purchase contract with the buyer fell through and the estate was put back on the market with an asking price of $20 million.<ref name="Brandon Plantation Returns to the Market">{{cite news | title=Brandon Plantation Returns to the Market | work=Richmond Times-Dispatch | date=December 31, 2013}}</ref> Midway through 2014, a Florida family purchased it for $17.8 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=17800000|start_year=2014}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}); soon after acquiring it, the new owners announced their intention to continue the agricultural operation and to occupy the historic manor house for part of the year.<ref name="Brandon Plantation sold for $17.8 million">{{cite news | title=Brandon Plantation sold for $17.8 million | work=Richmond Times-Dispatch | date=July 3, 2014}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Jeffersonian architecture]]
*[[Martin's Brandon Church]]
*[[Upper Brandon Plantation]]
*[[List of National Historic Landmarks in Virginia]]
*[[National Register of Historic Places listings in Prince George County, Virginia]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Lower Brandon Plantation}}
*[http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/jamesriver/bra.htm Brandon Plantation] 
*[http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/PrinceGeorge/Brandon_photo.htm Brandon, Prince George County, two photos at Virginia DHR]
*{{HABS |survey=VA-143 |id=va0840 |title=Brandon, State Route 611, Prince George vicinity, Prince George County, VA |photos=1 |data=3 |supp=yes}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia}}
{{James River Plantations}}

[[Category:James River plantations]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in Virginia]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Prince George County, Virginia]]
[[Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia]]
[[Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia]]
[[Category:Houses in Prince George County, Virginia]]
[[Category:Harrison family of Virginia]]
[[Category:Palladian Revival architecture in Virginia]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Prince George County, Virginia]]
[[Category:Brick buildings and structures in Virginia]]
[[Category:1616 establishments in the Colony of Virginia]]