Barboursville
The spectacular ruins of a mansion built by Thomas Jefferson.
Photograph courtesy of Jill Peters.
This mansion belonged to James Barbour, who served as the governor of Virginia during the War of 1812, was the Secretary of War under John Quincy Adams (1825–1828), and also a two-term U.S. Senator (1815–1825). The edifice was designed by Thomas Jefferson, who was a close friend. It even boasted of having its own racetrack, and is the only building in Orange County known to have been designed by Thomas Jefferson.
1822 painting by Chester Harding
The Barboursville plantation encompassed approximately 5,000 acres of land and had a labor force estimated at more than 100 slaves. The plantation was a “model” of scientific farming, with Barbour experimenting on how to prevent erosion, restoring soil fertility - important because many farms and fields would see diminishing returns on crops because they were depleting that fertility, and on ways to increase yields of their crops.
Barbour served the president of the Albemarle Agricultural Society, and published numerous articles in journals such as the American Farmer and the Farmer’s Register.
Construction on the mansion at James Barbour’s plantation, began in 1814. During the time Barbour was the Governor of Virginia.
Completed in 1822 it was destroyed by fire on Christmas Day in 1884. The fire left only the interior masonry partitions, the brick walls, and the grand fluted columns standing.