Plantation Homes of the James River - Hardcover

Roberts, Bruce

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807818798 ISBN 13: 9780807818794

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 1990

Synopsis

Bruce Roberts takes us on a photographic tour of fourteen of the famous colonial Virginia plantation houses nestled along the shores of the Lower James River from Richmond east to Jamestown and Williamsburg. Now carefully restored, often with the original furnishings, these houses are glorious monuments to a bygone era.

If you have never visited the James River plantations, this book will inspire you to plan a trip there. If you have, you will find this book a wonderful memento of a special place. Robert's 141 color photographs capture the magnificent exteriors of the houses, as well as their gardens and grounds, and offer rare and intimate glimpses of their interiors and furnishings. The plantations portrayed include Shirley Plantation, one of the oldest in America; Belle Air Plantation, with its unique seventeenth-century frame house containing America's finest Jacobean staircase; and Westover Plantation, site of the elegant Georgian home built by William Byrd II.

The text provides histories of the plantations, presenting them as places where real people lived and worked -- and still do, in many cases. While the plantations share some common history, each reflects the individual characteristics of the men, women, and children who lived there. In the dining room at Berkeley Hundred, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and eight other presidents enjoyed meals and discussed affairs of state. At Carter's Grove, Roberts photographed the "Refusal Room," where, according to local history, both Washington and Jefferson were refused in marriage by Virginia belles.

Today many of the plantation homes have been designated state and national historic sites, and with this book you can visit them and relive four hundred years of history.

About this title

Book Description:

"Armchair travelers, students of architecture and those who revel in more than four centuries of history can sit back and enjoy this sumptuous volume."-- Chattanooga Times

From the Back Cover:

Bruce Roberts presents a photographic tour of fourteen of the famous colonial Virginia plantation houses nestled along the shores of the Lower James River from Richmond east to Jamestown and Williamsburg. Now carefully restored, often with the original furnishing, these houses are glorious monuments to a bygone era.

About this edition

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0807818798
• ISBN 13: 9780807818794
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128