Green Spring


  • Address: Centerville Rd
  • Vicinity: N of John Tyler Hwy, Marker at Greensprings Rd, N of Jamestown Rd
  • Neighborhood of Jamestown JCC in Williamsburg
  • Travel Genus: Sight
  • Sight Category: Site

[Green Spring] is a brick building of great solidity, but no attempt at grandeur. The lower story was covered by an arcade which is pulled down. The porch has some clumsy ornamental brick work about the style of James the first ... It is Mr Lee's intention to pull down the present mansion and to erect a modest Gentleman's house near this spot. The antiquity of the old house, if in any case, ought to plead in the project, but its inconvenience and deformity are more powerful advocates for its destruction. In it, the oldest inhabited house in North America will disappear.... Benjamin H Latrobe

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Green Spring
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Timeline

Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
1643/06/00 Governor William Berkeley Owner As Royal Governor, Sir William is granted 984 acres of land designated "by name of Green Spring" in June 1643.
1649/00/00 Governor William Berkeley Royal Governor By 1649, Sir William' residence is finished to where he can entertain on a fairly lavish scale.
1650/02/00 Governor William Berkeley Host In Virginia, Berkeley initially refuses to recognize Cromwell's English government and welcomes Royalists to Virginia. His "house and purse were open to all," according to Henry Norwood, one of the guests of Green Spring who had fled Cromwell's England.
1667/00/00 Governor William Berkeley Owner Sericulture is a special interest of Sir William's, and the Governor plants many mulberry trees at Green Spring. By 1667, Virginia sent the Charles II of England a gift of 300 pounds of silk. Black walnut trees on Berkeley's estate yielded wainscoting.
1677/01/25 Governor William Berkeley Royal Governor Berkeley returns to his burned capital and his looted home. His wife describes Green Spring in a letter: for the house it looked like one of those the boys pull down at Shrovetide, and was almost as much to repair as if it had beene new to build. Bacon's Rebellion
1677/02/00 Governor William Berkeley Royal Governor The General Assembly meets at Green Spring, beginning their reign of terror. Enemies are imprisoned or executed, their lands and properties confiscated. Ruins of the jail where these men were confined are the only standing structure at Green Spring today. Bacon's Rebellion
1680/00/00 Philip Ludwell, a friend of Sir William, marries his youthful widow, Lady Frances.
1701/12/05 Hannah Harrison Ludwell Lee Born Hannah Harrison, wife of Philip Ludwell, gives birth to a daughter, Hannah Harrison Ludwell, at Greenspring plantation in James City County, Colony of Virginia.
1710/00/00 Philip Ludwell's son from a previous marriage, Philip Ludwell II inherits Green Spring. It would remain in the Ludwell hands for nearly a century. The diary of William Byrd II frequently refers to entertainments the author enjoyed at Green Spring.
1726/03/00 William Lee (diplomat) Home William Lee inherits Greenspring as part of the estate from his father-in-law and uncle, Philip Ludwell.
1772/00/00 Philip Ludwell III inherits Green Spring Plantation, from his father, Philip Ludwell II. By the time he inherited the property from his convivial father, planters no longer sought out the estate as a place to gather during "public times" at Williamsburg.
1781/07/06 Gen Anthony Wayne American General Americans under the command of the Marquis de Lafayette use the house at Green Spring Farm as marshalling area prior to a small engagement known as the Battle of Green Spring Farm. The house will be left in a bad state. Battle of Green Spring Farm
1781/07/06 Gen Anthony Wayne American General Patriot Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, leading the advance forces of the Marquis de Lafayette, is ambushed near Green Spring by British forces led by Cornwallis in the last major land battle of the Virginia campaign prior to the Siege of Yorktown. Battle of Green Spring Farm
1781/07/06 Charles Cornwallis British Genaral Patriot Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, leading the advance forces of the Marquis de Lafayette, is ambushed near Green Spring by British forces led by Cornwallis in the last major land battle of the Virginia campaign prior to the Siege of Yorktown. Battle of Green Spring Farm
1795/06/27 William Lee (diplomat) Died William Lee dies at age 55 in Greenspring, James City, Virginia. Mr Lee is buried beside his Ludwell grandparents in Jamestown. His son, William Ludwell Lee, inherits Green Spring.
1796/00/00 Benjamin H Latrobe Consulting Architect William L Lee hires Benjamin Latrobe to study Green Spring. He makes a watercolor sketch of the mansion, but finds the it unsuitable. Lee has Green Spring dismantled and later builds a house about 300 feet behind the original, it burn in the Civil War.
1954/00/00 Archeologist uncover the foundation, kitchen site and greenhouse finding a pottery kiln built by Berkeley, two ovens, ceramics, glassware, tiles and bricks. The remains were reburied after the excavation work was completed.

Data »

Particulars for Green Spring:
Area of Significance Agriculture
Area of Significance Architecture
Criteria Architecture-Engineering
Criminal Justice Correctional Facility
Owner Federal
Area of Significance Historic and non-aboriginal
Criteria Historic Event
Area of Significance Landscape Architecture
Historic Use Manufacturing facility
Area of Significance Politics-government
Area of Significance Prehistoric
Historic Use Single dwelling
Sight Category Site
Historic Use Village site



US National Registry of Historic Places Data »

Accurate at time of registration:

PLACE DETAILS
Registry Name:
Registry Address:
Registry Number: 78000261
Resource Type:
Owner: Federal
Architectural Style: No style listed
Nominator Name: National Historical Park
CULTURAL DETAILS
Level of Significance: Local
Area of Significance: Landscape architecture, Prehistoric, Historic and non-aboriginal, Politics-government, Architecture, Agriculture
Applicable Criteria: Event, Architecture-Engineering
Period of Significance: 1650-1699, 1700-1749, 1750-1799
Significant Year: 1643, c 1650
Historic Function: Domestic, Industry, processing, extraction, Government
Historic Sub-Function: Village site, Single dwelling, Correctional facility, Manufacturing facility
Current Function: Landscape
Current Sub-Function: Park

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