Greenfield (Fincastle, Virginia)
Greenfield | |
Formerly listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
Overview from the east | |
| Location | Botetourt Center at Greenfield, U.S. Route 220, Fincastle, Virginia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 37°26′17″N 79°54′50″W / 37.43806°N 79.91389°W |
| Area | 0.86 acres (0.35 ha) |
| Built | c. 1832, c. 1850 |
| NRHP reference No. | 10000792 |
| VLR No. | 011-0026 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | June 28, 2011 |
| Designated VLR | June 17, 2010 |
| Removed from NRHP | January 6, 2022 |
Greenfield, also known as Col. William Preston Plantation, Preston House, and Botetourt Center at Greenfield, is a historic plantation site located at Fincastle, Botetourt County, Virginia. The first plantation established by surveyor, militia officer and burgess William Preston (1729-1783) and which used enslaved labor beginning with his purchase of 16 Africans from the ship True Blue on August 28, 1759 in Nanjemoy, Maryland for 752pounds (to avoid a 5% Virginia sales tax), Greenfield became one of Botetourt County's largest plantations, encompassing more than 1,200 acres by the 1770s. In 1774 Col. Preston moved his family to another plantation, Smithfield, and a series of white overseers managed the farm, orchard and distillery at Greenfield.
Because fire had destroyed the plantation house in 1959, and the only remaining historic buildings were kitchen/quarters (c. 1832) and saddlebag slave dwelling (c. 1850), which were moved to the Bowyer-Holladay House nearby, although listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011, Greenfield was delisted in January 2022.